Penulis Malaysia

Copywriter 2.0: What it Means

2009-10-20T00:34:00.000+08:00

Copywriter 2.0 Concept Introduced

Copywriter 2.0 is the buzzword since the re-launch of the Internet as Internet 2.0. Yet, what is the key differentiator with AldricTinker.com?

In a nutshell, being a Copywriter 2.0 means the Copywriter’s roles include:-

Overall brand management by maintaining consistency and compliance to the Client’s needs aimed at long term expansion and growth;
Conceptualisation of marketing & PR campaigns suitable for online and offline media;
Recommendation of professionals necessary to execute the projects at cost-effective rates – cost effectiveness includes in terms of time, energy, money and resources;
Execution of copywriting projects commissioned consistent with the Client’s brand.

How does a Copywriter 2.0 Conduct Business?

The term Copywriter 2.0 is meant to reflect Internet 2.0. Internet is equated with cost-effectiveness when used right.

Here are how Copywriters 2.0 conduct business:

Portfolio: Available on websites and blogs;
Communication: Instant Messaging, E-mails, text messaging, phone calls;
Conferences: Instant messaging, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP);
Payment: Internet Banking, PayPal etc;
Branding: Article marketing & e-book marketing;
Physical files: Courier services, TT.

For example, if you really need a conference or meeting, I would recommend using Instant Messaging software like Skype or MSN Messenger.

As far as contracts are concerned, irrespective of where the Client may be, the laws binding the contract shall be the laws enforced in Malaysia. Terms and conditions to the contract are as stated in the respective website’s terms of service.

Benefits of Working with Copywriter 2.0

As you may have noticed, Copywriters 2.0 work at a minimal cost basis. In the words of budget airlines, frills-free copywriting.

Instantly you’ll save time, money and energy, especially in terms of travel. Geographic limits become obsolete.

Finding the Diamond among the Glasses

Your mind may be screaming “Risky! Risky! Risky!” My only answer to that is: reduce the risk! Have a mechanism for you to screen.

You may want to find for someone who has handled many projects, and delivering them, using the methods above.

In my experience, I’ve done a major translation job worth RM2250 without having to meet the client. For a span of over 7 months, I worked with an advertising agency 296km away. Like the translation job, I never met them in that span.

So even if you’re not engaging me, for whatever reason, you may want someone who has this similar credentials.

Best regards & God bless!

Aldric Tinker

Copywriter 2.0

http://www.aldrictinker.com

Co-Author of NLP for Online Marketing and the People Behind It: Download for free at http://jevince.com/NLPOnlineMarketing.

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Guide to Copywriter 2.0: 3 Ways to Cost-Effective Communication

2009-10-17T17:46:00.001+08:00

Since 2004, Web 2.0 Conferences have been held annually. It’s the buzzword among social media/Internet marketing enthusiasts. Basically what Web 2.0 symbolises is “change”. Internet alone isn’t a static creation. Even more so for the users.

Copywriters 2.0 (sing. Copywriter 2.0) are copywriters who have adapted to the 2.0 ecology. Usually they are Generation Xs and Generation Ys copywriters who are impatient yet determined to achieve. They harness the power of technology to get the work done cost effectively.

What is meant by “cost effectively”? Your communication:

Saves time;
Saves money;
Saves energy.

As a copywriter 2.0, here are the 5 techniques I used with my clients:

E-mail communication;
Text messaging/short messaging system;
Phone calls
Instant messaging; and
Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

If you need to send a bundle of document, send it via e-mail! A Copywriter 2.0 will access it, print it and refer to it.

Through e-mail, your copywriter 2.0 already have a reference he can access easily.

For a course of over 7 months, I managed to work with a Client half way across the country! So, as a person looking for a copywriter, find a Copywriter 2.0!

___________________________________________________________

ALDRIC TINKER, founder of Aldric Tinker & CreateChange, is a Certified Neurolinguistic Programmer, trained by William Horton, Psy. D., of the National Federation of Neurolinguistic Psychology. Aldric conducts Life and Executive Coaching sessions in addition to speaking engagements.

Technorati Tags: Web 2.0 Marketing,Copywriter 2.0,Malaysian Copywriter,cheap copywriting service,save money on copyywriting,cost-effective communication.

NLP-Hypnosis: We Are Family!

2009-10-17T11:29:00.001+08:00

Born in a Seminar Room…

During the introduction of me as a Certified NLP Practitioner and Professional Freelance Copywriter by my good friend Vincent Cheng, Founder of JeVince and Malaysian Business Network, during his Sales 2.0 Marketing 2.0 Workshop prompted a participant to speak on the relationship of NLP and Hypnosis how the two are not related. He expressed how his trainer, also mine, is bad at it and too academic.

For the purpose of this entry, I’ll focus on the relationship between neurolinguistic programming and hypnosis. What’s the nexus?

Beginnings of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP)

Richard Bandler, then Psychology Student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, joined followers of John Grinder, then associate professor of linguistics at the same varsity, reputedly the youngest in the States at the time.

The two became friends and began fusing their interests and skills and began studying the works of Virginia Satir (mother of Family Therapy) and Fritz Perls (founder of Gestalt Therapy). With the materials at hand, they studied the two for the reasons of their successes. Through a friend, the co-founders of neurolinguistic programming stumbled upon the work of Milton Erickson, MD, Grandfather of Hypnosis.

They were so engrossed with this general practitioner’s works on hypnosis. They incorporated Ericksonian work into NLP.

NLP From the Eyes of Clinical Hypnosis

In Clinical Hypnosis, there are fundamentally three approaches to hypnosis:

Autocratic: The autocratic approach is telling the Patients (LCCH/BSCH term for ‘Client’) on what to do. Close your eyes. Think of a time when you were…
Permissive: Patients are ‘invited’ to close their eyes. Whenever you are ready, close your eyes…
Non-Traditional: Non-traditional methods depart from the two. Non-traditional uses natural occurring hypnotic states to create the change. Briefly, you and I enter hypnotic trances everyday: when we’re day dreaming, concentrated in work, engrossed in reading books, etc.

Where does Clinical Hypnosis put NLP? You can almost guess it – non-traditional.

Ericksonian Influence is “Apostolic Succession” in NLP: Past, Present and Future

Erickson’s work incorporated by the Co-Founders of NLP into this new field of personal change lays the hands on NLP. There are NLP trainers and practitioners who write out that Bandler and Grinder went to meet Erickson, who endorsed their work.

Since its conception in the 1970s, NLP expands and grow because of those who carry on the torch.

Depending on the pre- or post-NLP training of your practitioner, you will see traces of NLP amidst what they bring onto the table.

Just as my trainer, William Horton, Psy. D., is trained in Hypnosis (Dr. Horton is a Certified Hypnotherapist, National Guild of Hypnosis/NGH & International Association of Counsellors and Trainers/IACT), I am doing the same. As a student of the International Certificate in Clinical Hypnosis conducted by the London College of Clinical Hypnosis Malaysia, I’m bringing back hypnosis into NLP as I practice it.

In addition to conducting NLP therapies and coaching, I use my NLP-hypnosis in my copywriting and speechwriting.

At the end of the day, NLP in inseparable from Hypnosis. No matter how far down the line you may be from John Grinder and Richard Brandler, or you got your line through NLP Gurus Tony Robbins, Tad James, Steve Andreas and more, NLP will trace its roots back to hypnosis.

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Discover How You Can Learn Faster, Cheaper and Easier for Long-Lasting Results!

2009-09-27T01:08:00.001+08:00

Did you know you can take something out from a workshop or course in a fraction of the time? Many excellent trainers apply accelerated learning into their programs and both organisers and participants are amazed by the results!

Accelerated learning, as the name implies, means faster learning and comprehension in addition to long term results.

As you grow, you have experienced accelerated learning along the way. It’s the time when you manage to understand and grasp the concepts, principles and applications as soon as you read it – and still remember it.

Children constantly enter and exit accelerated learning states. When in this mental state, children will remember what they learn and will most probably apply it.

Ironically, instead of learning to use accelerated learning, our education system systematically casts it further away from us by recognising one form of learning instead of a holistic approach. Instead of being allowed to explore, be curious and imagine, we were taught to sit down, be quiet and pay attention. Sure it works for some, but not for others. But to explain this phenomenon, those who cannot learn in that ‘intellectual’ manner are given many labels which results in attacks to their self-esteem.

How does accelerated learning benefit you or your organisation?

Consider these:

Learning at a fraction of the usual time;
Active participation and holistic comprehension of the subject matter;
Long term retention of the information or knowledge;
Shorter learning curve;
And many more underlying possibilities!

But that’s not all!

Excellent neurolinguistic programmers and coaches can help you enter and apply accelerated learning by recognising your learning style, work with you in getting yourself grounded so you don’t get overblown by excitement when using accelerated learning! If needed, your neurolinguistic programmer is more than happy to teach you the application techniques so you can enjoy your learning and use it longer!

Imagine the satisfactory results as you apply accelerated learning endlessly and enjoy the support of a neurolinguistic programmer. The possibilities are endless!

___________________________________________________________ ALDRIC TINKER, founder of Aldric Tinker & CreateChange, is a Certified Neurolinguistic Programmer, trained by William Horton, Psy. D., of the National Federation of Neurolinguistic Psychology. Aldric conducts Life and Executive Coaching sessions in addition to speaking engagements.

Unveiling Aldric Tinker, CreateChange and CreateCopy Logos

2009-09-26T23:03:00.001+08:00

Without further ado, I am proud to share with you the logos for Aldric Tinker (the Business), CreateChange and Create Copy.

Inspired by the soaring phoenix, Mohd. Izwan Ismail designed this logo especially for the use of Aldric Tinker, present and future divisions as well as incorporation of the business at a later stage.

Discover How You Can Lift Your Mood After the Ladder Falls on You

2009-09-19T15:00:00.001+08:00

Growing up and going through life is like a journey. A journey you begin from the day you were conceived. A journey which will only end for you the moment you release that last breath. Like any other journey you make, your life’s journey is not spared from the usual weathers: rain, shine, hail, snow, windy and more. Yet as much as you enjoy the journey, you are bound to enter periods of down time; thunderstorms that just suck the mood out, leaving you disappointed and maybe miserable.

The feeling mixed or on its own, is natural. At a funeral, it’s normal to grieve. Even if you’re not crying your eyes out, it’s still alright. It’s natural for you. It’s how your mind has programmed you to cope with the loss. Similarly when your parents are divorcing or when you failed that paper you put your effort in during your undergraduate years.

In some cases, you may even feel like giving up. What can you do?

Before you decide to give up, even though you feel that the world’s against you, think of the time when you were learning to walk. You can also see yourself through the eyes of a baby, trying to stand and take his or her first step. Sure, you cried when you first fell. But see yourself, determined and optimistic, trying to stand up and walk. Can you feel the determination you, the baby, felt? Your focused tunnel vision, concentrated and optimistic on the thing that you wanted to take. Listen to your shrill of excitement as you take that baby step. Although you clumsily fall down, you are still determined and excited.

After several attempts and falls, see yourself, the baby, successfully taking that first step! All his/her optimism and determination paid off! See how excited you are, the glimmer in your eyes. Listen to the accomplishment resonating in your happy cry! Feel that rush of joy crawling and seeping into your body – from your feet, to your ankles, into your calves and then your thighs. See that sensation spreading from your legs all the way up into your body. How, with every breath, the joy, hope and optimism fill your stomach muscles, your chest and your arms. As the euphoria reaches your neck and head, you can’t help but to notice the vibe coming from the baby’s body – your body.

You, the baby, flash that smile and clap your hand. You’re all revved up and excited to push forward and live another day. You are alive!

You keep the beautiful memories of the journey radiant and harmonically loud!

Here you are, today, standing on the road – your journey. Before you maybe crossroads, to roads diverged in an amber wood, straight or winding, you conclude that what’s important is that you push forth and forward. Sharing the strong and comforting glow, vibe and harmony coming from inside you with those you may meet.

Even if there’s a thunderstorm when you’re on the road, after a short while, look up. See the silver lining behind the cloud. Feel the cool earth under your feel as you smell the freshness of the air – under the bright rainbow arcing over you.

Every time you find yourself on the road from a fall, remember how it was when you took that first baby step. You’d feel better and optimistic before you know it.

Sexual orientation can't be changed through therapy: American Psychological Association

2009-08-08T16:40:00.001+08:00

by Sylvia Tan

Avoid telling clients they can change their sexual orientation through therapy or other treatments, the world's largest association of psychologists tells mental health professionals.

Mental health professionals should not tell gay clients they can become straight through therapy or other treatments, says the American Psychological Association in a press statement released on Aug 5.

The Washington-based association, which represents more than 150,000 members, presented a 138-page report at the group's annual meeting in Toronto, Canada on Wednesday.
The "Resolution on Appropriate Affirmative Responses to Sexual Orientation Distress and Change Efforts" also advises that parents, guardians, young people and their families avoid sexual orientation treatments that portray homosexuality as a mental illness or developmental disorder and instead seek psychotherapy, social support and educational services "that provide accurate information on sexual orientation and sexuality, increase family and school support and reduce rejection of sexual minority youth."
"Contrary to claims of sexual orientation change advocates and practitioners, there is insufficient evidence to support the use of psychological interventions to change sexual orientation," said Judith M. Glassgold, chairwoman of the task force that presented the report.
"At most, certain studies suggested that some individuals learned how to ignore or not act on their homosexual attractions. Yet, these studies did not indicate for whom this was possible, how long it lasted or its long-term mental health effects. Also, this result was much less likely to be true for people who started out only attracted to people of the same sex."
The association said some research suggested that efforts to produce change could be harmful, inducing depression and suicidal tendencies.
The 6-member task force examined the peer-reviewed journal articles in English from 1960 to 2007, which included 83 studies. Most of the studies were conducted before 1978, and only a few had been conducted in the last 10 years. The group also reviewed the recent literature on the psychology of sexual orientation.
"Unfortunately, much of the research in the area of sexual orientation change contains serious design flaws," Glassgold said. "Few studies could be considered methodologically sound and none systematically evaluated potential harms."
The association urged proponents of reparative therapy (also known as the ex-gay movement), many of whom are known to be aligned with Christian-based beliefs or groups, to consider multiple options, which could include celibacy and switching churches, for helping clients live spiritually rewarding lives in instances where their sexual orientation and religious faith conflict.
Two of the largest organisations in the world promoting reparative therapy are Focus on the Family through its Love Won Out programme and Exodus International with an affliated network of groups internationally whose chief message is “freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ.”

Rev Steve Parelli (right) and his partner of 12 years Jose Ortiz are slated to give two talks about Christianity and homosexuality in Cheras, Malaysia and Bangkok on Aug 13 and Aug 28 respectively.

Reverend Steve Parelli of the MCC (Metropolitan Community Churches) in New York, who describes himself as ex-ex-gay, says the news should not come as a surprise to the evangelical ex-gay supporters who have read the books of the ex-gay writers themselves; some of whom including ex-gay leader Andrew Comiskey who himself revealed that he continues to "lust" after men even after 20 years of marriage to a woman. [For details, click onto the 'Ex-Gay Ministries in their very own (sorry)' link below.]
Speaking with Fridae in Singapore where he is on a Southeast Asian tour speaking tour and meeting with evangelical churches, Rev Parelli highlighted that the evangelical ex-gay movement in fact "does not, in the fine print, claim to change sexual orientation."
"To be clear, the evangelical ex-gay movement uses catch words like 'ex-gay,' 'healing,' 'coming out of homosexuality.' But it is a bait-and-switch sell. Upon close examination of what the evangelical ex-gay movement teaches, any one who will give a simple read of their major writings will see that the evangelical ex-gay movement is teaching 'behaviour modification' not change of one's sexual orientation. The evangelical 'ex-gay' leaders teach in their writings that the 'change' they are talking about is a life-long process that involves multiple disciplines from accountability to rigorous spiritual disciplines.
"This is obviously not change," says Rev Parelli who is the Executive Director of Other Sheep, a worldwide volunteer, non-profit ecumenical Christian organisation with a mission to empower sexual minorities.
Glassgold's advice: "We recommend that psychologists be completely honest about the likelihood of sexual orientation change, and that they help clients explore their assumptions and goals with respect to both religion and sexuality."

A copy of the task force report may be obtained from http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/publications/therapeutic-response.pdf.

How You Should Start Your Business – Invaluable Advice from a Kuching Lad!

2009-07-20T10:14:00.001+08:00

Dear Aspiring Entrepreneur,

It’s been over a year since I bought John Lee’s Great by 24. The book by one entrepreneur who postponed his studies to do the things he loves the most: translation, meeting new people across the globe and making money while making spare time along the way. After I finished his book, I dared myself to email this young entrepreneur, seeking further advice. But that’s not what I’m going to share with you. Rather, it’s the Six Golden Strokes for Business Overture which you will find in Chapter 3 of John’s book.

First thing’s first: the registration of your enterprise. If you’re conducting your business in Malaysia, you’ll need to register your company or business. On January 4th, 2008, Aldric Tinker was registered as a Sole Proprietorship providing business support with the Malaysian Companies Commission (SSM). They gave me the following certificate:

Fast forward a (slow) year later, I renewed the registration on January 13, 2009. After paying a small fine and the registration fee, Aldric Tinker the Sole Proprietorship’s life was extended for another year.

Next, the Bank. No business can survive without a trustworthy banker. It’s your channel to receive and make payments! For me, I choose Maybank’s Personal Savings Account at the time. With just RM250, you can open a simple account there. For the time being, it’s sufficient. Once I get the minimum, I’ll gladly open up a Current Account with either Maybank or CIMB.

You’re given much flexibility when you’re providing a service such as copywriting. In the long run, you’ll still need an office space. No, inviting your clients to your 2-room flat is the last thing you want to do. I’ve been through this conflict over and over again. John Lee’s third Stroke is basically that: the Office. When I started out, I shuttled between my home in Section 8, Shah Alam, UiTM’s Faculty of Law and landmark Menara SAAS as well as in SACC Mall’s Coffee Bean. When you’re a service provider, as long as you have a PC and Internet access, that’s where your office is.

Though mind you, there is one tricky part: meeting clients. Where? I used to do it at Coffee Bean, KL Sentral and other ‘public places’. This doesn’t impress much. There’s no corporate identity.

As of last Friday, I maintain an office at Amcorp Tower, at PJ’s landmark: Amcorp Mall. From hereon after, I’ll be meeting my clients in the meeting room or the boardroom of Suite 1208, Level 12, Amcorp Tower, Amcorp Trade Centre, No. 18, Persiaran Barat, 46050-Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia. My receptionist is ready to accept your call at +6 03 7948 5248. You can still fax me at +6 03 9282 7697, though.

No business can survive on its own. You need to team up with strategic partners and allies. This is the Fourth Stroke. When I started out, I regard a client of mine a strategic partner. Why? Because with this advertising firm based in JB, Malaysia, it’s not just about writing copy. They’ve guided me a lot since I started working with them. Support groups and network are as important. You can only cover so much with so little. You’ll need to delegate if not direct the project to someone else. At the same time, you’re going to need the knowledge you can get when you’re embarking on a new format or range of service.

Your partners alone cannot do anything much if you don’t spread the word! Advertise your business. No business experts can stress this enough, what more to say someone who’s going through it like me! If you fail to execute this 5th Stroke, your venture is as good as dead. Your advertising campaign doesn’t have to cost you half a million or so! There are many ways you can approach this. One way is through your business cards and website/blogs. Blogs and social networking sites like Facebook are relatively cheap and free! Use it!

Finally, a hotel alliance is also important. “Join one of the many hotel’s preferred guest programs or alliances”, says John in his book. You’d save the time and money when you’re familiar with one range of hotel. ;-)

There you have it, John Lee’s Six Golden Strokes for Business Overture. For more information, buy John Lee’s Great by 24! It’ll give you a treasure chest full of advices! Did I mention, I turn 23 in October 2009? ;-)

Revision of Rates July 2009

2009-07-19T12:24:00.000+08:00

Since I released my fee structure in March 2009, much have happened which requires me to revise the rates and structure after using the same rates since January 2008.

Among others, the following are the reason behind the restructure:

Basic NLP Certification from the National Federation of Neurolinguistic Psychology (Programming), USA;
More exposure in print ads, radio and TV commercials;
The cost of maintaining an office in Amcorp Tower where clients can now meet and reach us more easily;
Offerings of new services and removal of dormant services.

If you have been dealing with my copywriting practice before this restructure, you will not see an increase until December 2009. Starting January 2010, existing and future clients will be charged at the new rate.

Signature Guarantee

As part of our on-going commercialisation and internationalisation efforts, our customers will enjoy the following guarantees:

Guarantee of two (2) complimentary revisions after the submission of each copywriting job;
Guarantee of the application of NLP techniques and proven copywriting techniques used by world-renowned writers like Bob Bly, Joe Vitale and more;
Guarantee of dedicated and diligent service and attention from a professional copywriter & his highly vetted team.

Aldric Tinker’s Red Velvet Rope Policy

As much as I’d love to accept any and every business out there, I do not. What are the clients that I’m looking for? Here are the characteristics:-

Integrity;
Serious (who understands the value of my time as much as theirs);
Bright (full of light & easily excitable);
Resilient (keep coming back);
Courageous (facing their fears);
Think big (you project, product, service or brand will benefit large groups of people);
Value-oriented (you gain value from relationships with me and others);
Naturally collaborative (you contribute to and focus on your solutions);
Rapid responders (talk today, done tomorrow);
Positive (naturally optimistic).

Do you have these in you? If you do, then drop me an email or give me a ring!

When you have these characteristics, you will get the following benefits:-

You’ll have clean energy to do your best work;
You’ll feel invigorated and inspired;
You’ll connect with me and your clients on a deeper level;
You’ll feel successful and confident;
You’ll know that your work matters and it’ll change lives;
The magic of you will spring to life!

Though you may feel that this is still general, you will find the answer at the end of the day: whether I accept or reject your project.

Why is this policy necessary? One rotten apple is going to spoil the whole bunch. A negative and uncooperative client will result in delays for the rest of my clientele. I’m sure you’ve worked with difficult people: do you notice how bitter you can be when you deal with the person immediately after him or her? Your life energy gets sucked out into his or her void. When it happens, you know that your day just went down the drain.

Furthermore, NLP is one powerful technique if you want strong reaction. The last group of people I’d want to serve are those who are not interested in helping others with the products or services which they offer. This way, you know that I’m not helping scams, illegal, immoral or unethical activities.

At the end of the day, it trickles down to this: I’m only interested in serious clients just as much as you’re interested in copy that sells. This is an investment to you, your product, your service and you’ll gain more than you have to pay.

Rate Structure

Without much ado, you find my services and its rates as follows:-

For both local and international clients, my fees are in Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)/Ringgit Malaysia (RM).

The amount quoted below are general figures. Because your needs are unique and different, please email me at aldric@aldrictinker.com for specific quotations that would fit into your budget. The bolded red colours are my specialty.

No.	Project Type	Cost (RM)
1.	Print Ads (Full-page ads)	RM560 to RM1,680
2.	Print Ads (Partial page ads)	RM330 to RM560
3.	Advertorials	RM560 to RM450/page
4.	Annual reports & prospectus	RM3,750 to RM28,000
5.	Booklets	RM150 per page to RM4,700
6.	Brochures	RM150 per brochure page
7.	Business plans (Editing)	RM2,800 to RM3,750
8.	Business plans (Complete)	RM5,000 to RM18,000
9.	Case histories and application briefs	RM560 to RM4,600
10.	Catalogs	RM150/catalog page to RM1800/page
11.	Teaser & Lead Generation Emails	RM150 to RM3,750 per page
12.	“Long copy” e-mail	RM560 to RM6,500
13.	Feature articles	RM560 to RM7,500
14.	Flyers	RM150 per page
15.	Labels & Packaging	RM280 to RM4,600
16.	Landing pages (Microsites)	RM6,500 to RM14,000
17.	User Manuals	RM750 per day
18.	Multimedia presentations script (10 minutes)	RM280 to RM650 per minute
19.	Newsletter	RM560 to RM1,400 per page
20.	Postcards	RM900 to RM3,750
21.	Press releases	RM150 to RM300
22.	Proposals	RM180 per page to RM360/page
23.	Radio commercials (20s - 60s)	RM750 to RM1,500
24.	Résumé	RM50 to RM150
25.	Sales letter	RM1,400 to RM4,600
26.	Self Mailers	RM2,800 – RM4,600
27.	Speeches	RM280 to RM375 per speech minute
28.	TV Commercials	RM180 to RM560 per presentation minutes
29.	Website Content	RM150 per segment to RM1800/ page
30.	White paper	RM3,750 to RM13,000

AWAI: Finding a Good Idea for Your Book

2009-07-18T02:56:00.000+08:00

Finding a Good Idea for Your Book
By Robert W. Bly

The journey of a thousand manuscript pages (or even 150) begins with a single idea. Here’s how to find one.

Many people who attend my book-publishing semi nars already have a book idea in mind. Others, however, have a strong desire to write a book, but are stuck on coming up with a suitable topic. If you fall into this category, here are 10 sources of ideas for books you may want to write:

1. Job Experience

An obvious but often overlooked source of book ideas is your job. Thousands of excellent books have been written by authors about a skill, expertise or career experience gained on the job.

This is how I came to write my first book, Technical Writing: Structure, Standards and Style (McGraw-Hill). My first job after graduating college was as a technical writer for Westinghouse Electric Corp. in Baltimore. After several months writing technical materials, I began to feel the need for a writing guide to assist technical writers with matters of style, usage, punctuation and grammar. (For example, does one write 1/4 or 0.25 or one fourth in technical documents?) Being book-minded, I went to the bookstores and found nothing appropriate.

My idea was to compile a style guide for technical writers modeled after the best-selling general writing style guide, The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White. I wrote a content outline and book proposal, and began to pursue agents and publishers. I was extremely lucky: The first agent who saw Technical Writing agreed to represent the book, and within three weeks, he sold it to the first publisher to look at it, McGraw-Hill. The advance was $8,500 – not bad for a first-time author in 1981 for a short (100-page) book.

Not every book I’ve written since has sold so quickly and easily. But subsequently, I have written a number of books based on skills and experiences gained in various careers and jobs.

Do you hold a highly desirable position or work in a glamorous industry? Then you can write a book telling others how to get into your line of work.

Have you developed specific and valuable skills such as computer skills selling, marketing, finance, negotiating or programming – skills that others need to master? There’s a need for abook telling them how to do it.

2. A Course You’ve Taught

There are many opportunities for you to design and teach courses to other people at work, at adult education evening classes at the local high school or college, at community colleges, at association meetings and even on the university level.

If you get the opportunity to teach a course, keep in mind that the topic and content outline you develop for the course may have appeal to a publisher as the outline for a potential book on the same subject.

In 1981, a private seminar company offering low-cost public seminars in New York City asked me to do an evening program on marketing and promotion for small business. The pay was lousy, but I accepted. A year or so later, I tool the course title and outline, turned it into a book proposal, and sold my second book, How to Promote Your Own Business, to New American Library.

If you want to write nonfiction books, there are two advantages to teaching a class or seminar. First, in developing and teaching the course, you will simultaneously be doing most of the legwork necessary to produce a book on the subject. Therefore, once you’ve presented the course, transforming it into a book is a relatively quick and easy next step (or at least quicker and easier than doing a book from scratch).

Second, teaching the course positions you as an expert in the subject, making you more attractive to book publishers. They figure that anyone who can lead a course on the topic must have a substantial amount of information and expertise to share. If you taught the course at a prestigious, well-known institution, that further boosts your credibility.

3. A Course You’ve Taken

Taking courses can also give you a fresh infusion of ideas and information that can become the basis for a book.

The same private seminar company I was teaching small business promotion seminars for offered a number of courses in different career areas, which as an instructor, I could take for free. After taking several, I came up with the idea of doing a career book on how to break into some of the more exciting, glamorous industries and professions, such as music, film, advertising, travel and television. The book, Creative Careers: Real Jobs in Glamour Fields, was published by John Wiley & Sons.

Warning: When you take the course, don’t steal or plagiarize the instructor’s seminar, reprinting it word for word as your book. Consider it a starting point and supplement it with additional research from many other sources (book articles, interviews, other seminars, etc.).

If the instructor does have good information you want to reprint (such as lists of contacts and resources), get his permission in writing. You can also ask the instructor if he or she will agree to be interviewed by you for inclusion in the book.

4. Life Experience

“It is in the totality of experience reckoned with, filed and forgotten, that each man is truly different from all others in the world,” writes Ray Bradbury in Zen in the Art of Writing. Every person and every life is unique, and this is why they say that everyone has at least one book inside them. What has happened to you has not happened to other people, and your experiences will make for a book that is either instructive, entertaining, moving or any combination of these.

This applies to everyone. For example, if you have chosen to remain single, you can write Living Alone and Loving It or a similar book on the joys of being single. If you are married with children, you have unique experiences as a parent, and can share your knowledge and experiences with others in an entertaining or informative book. If you are married but have been unable to have children, you have credibility to write a book on infertility. If you and your spouse have not had children by choice, you can write a book on Choosing to Live Child-Free. If you have only one child, you can write Raising the Single Child. If you’re a single parent, you can write Straight Talk and Advice for Single Parents.

In 1982, the New York City engineering firm employing me told me I would have to relocate. My fiancee did not want to leave Manhattan, so I resigned and started a new career as a self-employed industrial writer, producing brochures and data sheets for chemical companies and industrial equipment manufacturers.

The transition from employee to freelancer was an educational experience, one I knew many others would go through (or would hope to, someday). This became the topic of my book, Out on Your Own: From Corporate to Self-Employment, also published by Wiley.

5. A Process Or Task You Know How to Do

Through work, leisure or life experience, we all have done things that many other people have not done, and therefore know a good deal more about these things than they do. The inexperienced would like to learn from your experiences and avoid your mistakes, and a book is the ideal vehicle for this.

For instance, after resigning from the engineering firm and becoming a self-employed industrial writer in 1982, I was forced to learn how to succeed in the commercial writing field on my own; there was no book to guide me. I made many expensive mistakes and learned from experience.

To help other writers speed the learning curve and avoid these mistakes, I wrote Secrets of a Freelance Writer, published by Henry Holt & Co. The book is about the process of running a freelance writing business, covering everything from getting started and finding clients to setting fees and negotiating contracts.

6. A Hobby

Hobbies that fascinate you no doubt fascinate a lot of other people. As a hobbyist, you have much more knowledge than a journalist or other outsider who would have to research the field from scratch. Why not turn your hobby into a profit center by writing a book about it?

One of my hobbies is collecting comic books. I love Superman, Batman, Wolverine, and the other DC and Marvel superheroes.

When I graduated college in 1979, I burned with the desire to write a book and get it published. I started two book projects. One was a Harlequin romance novel, which I started not because I enjoy Harlequin romance novels – I’ve never even read one – but because I figured it would be easy to do.

I was wrong. I wrote 40 pages of the worst Harlequin romance novel of all time before abandoning the project.

But writing those pages taught me an important lesson: Don’t select a topic or form for your book just because you think it is commercially viable and will make you a lot of money. If you do, your lack of enthusiasm will show through in your writing.

On the other hand, if you are passionate about your topic, your enthusiasm will show through in your writing. The book will be easier and more fun to write, and the final product will be much better in quality.

The second book project I started working on was a trivia book on comic book superheroes, written in quiz form. For example: What are the six types of kryptonite? (Green, red, blue, white, gold, jewel.) What was Spider-Man’s major in college? (Physics.)

I wrote a short manuscript and, having no contacts in publishing, and no knowledge of the publishing business, sent it to editors at various paperback publishers with a cover letter. It was rejected by all. I gave up and put it in a drawer.

Years later, when I was cleaning out some files, I came across the manuscript. I was going to throw it out, but instead mailed it to my literary agent with a note saying, “Do you think you can do anything with this?”

Six weeks later, she called and said she’d sold the book. I was speechless, The book,Comic Book Heroes: 1,101 Trivia Questions About America’s Favorite Superheroes From the Atom to the X-Men, was published by Citadel Press.

The second lesson I learned from this experience was: A book idea that doesn’t sell now might sell later. If you get rejected by publishers, don’t throw away or forget about the book proposal. File it and make a note to take another look at it in six or 12 months. Sometimes you have success on the second or third try because the timing is right. Other times, you see the idea from a fresh perspective, rewrite it, and make the sale with the revised book proposal. When asked to address the graduating class at Oxford, Winston Churchill, a great writer, stood up, and said only, “Never give up,” and sat back down. These three words are good advice for authors who want to sell book proposals to publishers.

Eventually, a third lesson revealed itself: Every book published gives you credibility that can lead to more book contracts in the same field.

I enjoyed writing the comic book trivia book. After it came out, I thought about doing trivia books on other topics in a similar format.

I was always a big Star Trek fan. This resulted in two books with Harper-Collins: The Ultimate Unauthorized Star Trek Quiz Book and Why You Should Never Beam Down in a Red Shirt. As publishers began to see me as a writer of popular culture trivia, I received several more contracts along this line, including What’s Your Frasier I.Q.?, a quiz book on the TV show Frasier.

Books about hobbies can be how-to, money-making, reference, specialized or general information. If you have an interest in tropical fish, for example, you could write How to Keep Tropical Fish (how-to), How to Breed Tropical Fish for Fun and Profit (money-making), An Illustrated Guide to Aquarium Fish (reference), Care and Breeding of Fancy Guppies (specialized) or Your First Fish Tank (general).

Notice that the first six methods on this list involve you, the author, having some special insight, experience or information on the topic of your book. Author and publisher Dan Poynter says, “Write about something in which you are a participant. The world needs more books written by writers who are also experts, not writers who are journalists.”

“Concentrate on the area that interests you, and if you’re not an expert now, you may become one,” writes Tom Peeler in The Writer. “And even if the area of interest still requires consultation with recognized professionals, specialization will allow you to develop regular sources and will give you credibility with them.”

One of Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoons shows an author autographing his book at a book signing. The caption reads, “After being frozen in ice for 10,000 years, Thag promotes his autobiography.” The title of the book: It Was Very Cold and I Couldn’t Move. Obviously, no publisher expects you to have 10,000 years of experience in your subject matter. But writing about something you know, have experienced or have achieved is one route to coming up with a book idea a publisher will buy from you.

7. Tidbits of Scattered Information You’ve Collected Or Compiled

Are you interested in a specific field of knowledge or study? And are you the type who clips articles and collects tidbits of information on your topic? If so, you can convert this passion for information by compiling your collected knowledge into book form.

For a while, I became fascinated with all the toll-free consumer help lines and hotlines I saw advertised, giving free information on everything from AIDS prevention to gardening tips to stock market quotes. I became an obsessive collector of these numbers, clipping articles and writing down 800-numbers I heard on the radio and saw on TV. Finally, I compiled them into a book, Information Hotline U.S.A., published by New American Library.

Similarly, a friend of mine, Don Hauptman, is obsessed by language in general and word-play in particular. Don is a collector of information, and began collecting acronyms (such as DNA, LSD, scuba, laser). When his collection got large enough, he turned it into a book on acronyms, Acronymania, published by Dell.

8. A Gap You’ve Found in the Reader’s Knowledge You Know You Can Fill

An excellent way of finding marketable ideas is to talk with people and find out what they want and need to know, then write a book to satisfy that information need.

For example, an attorney with good negotiating skills heard many clients telling him that they, too, wished they had good negotiating skills and would like help becoming better negotiators. The attorney became a millionaire by writing and selling books, audio and videotape programs, seminars and training sessions in negotiating skills.

Working as a business consultant, I saw there were dozens of books on sales, but almost nothing on how to generate leads for salespeople. I proposed The Lead Generation Handbook, which sold to Amacom, the publishing division of the American Management Association.

And when we moved out of New York City and bought a home in the suburbs, we knew nothing about plumbing, electricity, gardening, cars, aluminum siding, roofing, or the dozens of other things every homeowner eventually becomes familiar with. I thought, “Why not write a book that will be an instruction manual for first-time homeowners?”

I wrote a proposal for a book titled The Homeowner’s Survival Guide. No one was interested, and I put the proposal away in a file and forgot about it. Several years later, a major publisher – one for whom I’ve now written several books – came out with such a book with the exact same title.

Another lesson learned: Pay attention to your own gut feelings. Had I kept trying with this book, as I advise you to do, it might very well have sold within a year or so. But I gave up on it, and now another author’s name is on the cover.

9. An Existing Topic You Can Target to a Specific Audience

A common situation is the author who wants to write a book on a specific topic but finds the field overcrowded.

This happens to all of us: You get an idea for a book and get excited about it. Then you visit the bookstore and find two shelves’ full of books on the same topic, books that seem very much like yours. You become discouraged by the competition, give up and drop the idea. Don’t! You can still write that book. You just need a fresh slant, angle or hook.

One of the easiest and most successful methods to finding this fresh slant is to target your book toward a specific audience within the market. For example, a seminar leader told me she wanted to write a book on presentation skills, but was afraid to try because so many books already exist. She mentioned at one point that she trained mainly women. I asked her if women making presentations in the business world face a different set of challenges than men do. “Of course,” she replied.

“Then,” I suggested, “the title of your book should be Presentation Skills for Women.”

In the same way, I wanted to write a book on selling, but found the market overcrowded. Since my experience is in selling services vs. products, I offered Holt a book on Selling Your Services.

10. Whatever Interests You

In addition to finding out what interests other people, an excellent source of ideas is what interests you. You are a curious, intelligent, creative human being, constantly thinking and wondering about the world around you. Chances are what interests you will interest many other people, too.

I’m a big Stephen King fan, as are many others. Having written the TV and comic book quiz books, I naturally thought of doing a quiz book on Stephen King. My agent promptly sold it to Kensington Books, a paperback publisher in New York City.

I recommend you keep a notebook, file folder or computer file labeled “book ideas,” and whenever an idea for a book comes to mind, write it down and save it. Don’t worry whether the book will eventually interest a publisher. Creating ideas and analyzing/assessing ideas are two separate activities, and should not overlap. Don’t hold your creativity back; let the ideas flow and quickly get them all down on paper. Later you can decide which won’t work and which merit further effort.

But first, you must have the idea.

[Ed. Note: Robert W. Bly is the author of more than 70 books, including The Copywriter’s Handbook (Henry Holt) and Write More, Sell More (Writer’s Digest Books).

This article is excerpted from Bob Bly’s Getting Your Book Published.]

This article appears courtesy of American Writers & Artists Inc.’s (AWAI) The Golden Thread, a free newsletter that delivers original, no-nonsense advice on the best wealth careers, lifestyle careers and work-at-home careers available. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.awaionline.com/signup/.

Aldric’s New Office in Amcorp Tower, AmCorp Mall

2009-07-17T23:52:00.000+08:00

Aldric Tinker, Freelance Writer and Certified NLP Practitioner (NFNLP, USA), now maintains an office at the following address:

Suite 1208, Level 12, Amcorp Tower,

Amcorp Trade Centre

No. 18, Persiaran Barat,

46050-Petaling Jaya,

Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

How to get there:-

In addition to that, you calls can be made to +6 03 7948 5248. On top of the present fax number, (+6 03 9282 7697), you can also fax +6 03 7955 6363.

My 2nd TV Commercial

2009-07-16T01:07:00.001+08:00

I’d like to share with you my 2nd TV commercial for a cluster of programmes. Coming to my aid was the Producer Wing and guided by Hikaru Koo.

AWAI: 4 Crucial Steps for Copywriting Success

2009-07-15T01:15:00.000+08:00

Here’s an interesting article I found while surfing the American Writer’s and Artists, Inc. (AWAI) website:

Will Newman here, Managing Editor of Copywriting Insider. As we move into 2009, I have a special, two-part New Year’s gift for you.

The first part is my very sincere, heartfelt wish for your success this year. I want 2009 to be the year you get your career bustling and bringing you as much professional work as you can handle.

The second part of my New Year’s gift is my four crucial steps for success. They’ve had a tremendous impact on my life. And I promise you, if you take these four steps, 2009 will be your most successful year yet!

STEP #1: Model successful people.

If you could follow a few people around the entire day, doing what they do, learning from their actions, modeling on their success, whom would you choose?

In your personal life, you’d model yourself after friends, relatives, or public figures you admire – maybe a grandparent or great grandparent who overcame extraordinary odds. For example, I try to model my personal life after my father-in-law, a gentle World War II vet who fought in Africa and Italy … and the first Mexican American in the printers union in San Francisco.

Professionally, you’d definitely want to model your work habits and every professional thing you do after the super-successful copywriters you know and admire.

Many times, however, the people we end up modeling are not the ones we should. We listen to friends and family who want the best for us. But they also want to talk to us on the phone when we should be writing. Or they want us to go shopping with them to help them pick out a fly rod.

You love your family and friends, but they’re not necessarily the ones you should be modeling. So once again, your first step this year is to resolve to model only successful people.

STEP #2: Finally get control of your time.

How can he do it? How can Michael Masterson find the time to be a master copywriter? And the author of 10 best-selling books on entrepreneurial success? And a published fiction writer? And a purple belt in Jiu-Jitsu?

The answer is this: Michael has mastered the secrets to controlling his time … and not letting time control him.

For example, if you’ve been to Bootcamp or read Michael’s articles about time management and productivity, you know he’s very careful how often he checks his email. He knows how much of a time-sucker email is. So, he takes control of it … and doesn’t let it control him.

Taking control of your time is possibly the hardest of all the four steps. But only because so few people really understand what Michael knows about time management.

So – in keeping with step #1 – resolve to control your time so success comes to you more quickly … the way Michael Masterson does.

STEP #3: Decide on what niche is best for you.

Unfortunately, when I’ve asked copywriters who’re just starting out what niche they’ve chosen, all too often I hear this: “I want to write for financial, because it’s the most lucrative. And health. And I think I’ll try B2B, too. And fundraising seems good. I don’t want to narrow my choices.”

But there’s a huge difference between narrowing your choices and targeting your focus.

Look at all the most successful copywriters you know of. They’re all specialists. They’ve chosen one or two niches that vibrate for them. Ones they’re passionate about. Ones they understand. Ones they become experts in.

This is a basic secret of copywriting success. If you were at this year’s Bootcamp, you heard Mike Palmer say this. You’ve heard Jen Stevens and Chris Marlow say this.

And you’ve heard Michael Masterson say this.

So, for step #3, resolve that you will learn how to target your focus on the very best niches for you … niches that ensure you will be successful, faster.

STEP #4: Master the easiest, most effective self-promotion strategies.

All the high-quality AWAI programs, all the Bootcamp presentations, all the good intentions will get you nowhere if you don’t go out and promote yourself.

This one step is probably the easiest of them all. But it’s also the one few beginning copywriters take. They think it’s too hard. And so, they stay beginning copywriters for a very long time.

Self-promotion is almost effortless … when you know a few core secrets like how to build a one-time project into a long-term consultancy. Or how best to position yourself as “the expert in your field.”

And when you learn the secrets of effective self-promotion, you won’t get stuck earning the lowest fees. You’ll be able to command what you’re worth … and turn down clients who can’t afford to give it to you.

Resolve to take this fourth step to success. Learn the core secrets of easy, effective self-promotion.

So, there it is … my New Year’s gift to you. These are the four crucial steps for success you must take this year. They’ve taken me far further than I ever imagined possible. And I know they’ll super-accelerate your career.

AWAI: The Power of Social Networking to Fast-Track Your Success

2009-07-14T01:21:00.000+08:00

The Power of Social Networking to Fast-Track Your Success

By Will Newman

I know you’ve heard about MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube. And if you’re like I was until very recently, you might think these websites – known as social networks – are just for kids.

If so, you’re in for a surprise. Very successful entrepreneurs like master copywriter Ted Nicholas, Bob Bly and Michael Masterson are all using social networking sites to nurture, promote, and expand their success.

Here’s how Michael Masterson and MaryEllen Tribby put it in their new book Changing the Channel …

“Anybody who has the time to devote to this marketing channel can become a recognized … expert on any subject.”

Bob Bly was a long-time skeptic about the power of social networks – until recently. Now he says …

“The next big thing in Internet marketing is social networking. Unless you are living in a cave, you can’t help but notice the money being made from social networking sites.”

Five Social Network Sites You Must Explore …

The success of social networking has spawned dozens of sites. Some marketers feel they must be on all of them. However, if you want to write copy and not spend most of your day on social networks, here are five important ones to explore …

www.Digg.com

Digg is a website where you can share written and video content. It presents you with a very active channel for posting white papers, blogs, and other self-promotional materials. If you use any of these self-promotional methods, Digg is a great starting place for getting your website and your copywriting services noticed.

You don’t actually post content on the Digg site. Rather, you’re providing a link to that content that takes Digg visitors back to your website.

Once you post content on Digg, if users like it, they can make a positive vote by clicking on a “digg it” button. (There are no negative votes.) A number of other social network sites also allow users to “digg it” content posted or linked on their sites.

If your submission receives enough “digg its,” it’s promoted to Digg’s front page.
www.LinkedIn.com

LinkedIn is a business-oriented website used mainly for professional networking. As of October 2008, it had more than 30 million registered users, spanning 150 industries.

The site lets you maintain a list of business contacts you know and trust. The people in the list are called Connections. You can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a Connection.

You can use LinkedIn Connections in a number of ways …
- Use your web of Connections to get introductions to someone you want to know through a trusted mutual contact.
- Use LinkedIn to find jobs, people, and business opportunities recommended by someone in your contact network.
- If you’re looking for a job, you can review profiles of managers and discover which of their existing contacts can introduce them to you.
- Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates on LinkedIn.
www.MySpace.com

MySpace is an interactive network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos. Originally promoted heavily to teens, MySpace is the second-largest social network site among all age groups.

According to the Reuters news agency, MySpace counted approximately 150 million accounts in 2008 and attracts 230,000 new users per day.

A search on “copywriting” in MySpace brings up links to jobs in MySpace Jobs, individual copywriter contacts, and videos of copywriting strategies that take the user back to the copywriter’s website … essentially video “white papers” for self-promotion.
www.Facebook.com

Facebook has over 153 million users worldwide, making it the largest social network. Facebook lets you join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people with similar interests.

Facebook provides you opportunities similar to MySpace for posting information about yourself, your business, videocasts, and other self-promotion tools.
www.YouTube.com

YouTube is a popular video-sharing website that lets anyone store short videos for private or public viewing.

YouTube originally was a venue for sharing videos among friends and family. But it’s become an effective marketing tool.

For example, you can watch videos of John Forde and Jen Stevens, Michael Masterson, and AWAI on YouTube … as well as copywriting videos from other copywriters using this channel to market their own copywriting services.

Joining social networks is easy. Go to the website, click a link that says something like “Join.” Provide the requested info. And you’re ready to start. There’s no cost, and you can explore them at your leisure once you’ve joined.

A Social Networking Power Few Copywriters Know About …

Even if you feel social networks aren’t the way you want to promote your career, they hold tremendous power for you as a copywriter. Here’s why …

Social network “groups” (also known as forums, discussions, or chats) give you the ability to really know what motivates your prospect. What truly is going on in his mind. What real dreams, hopes, and aspirations he holds.

Once you sign on to a social network, you can join groups and follow discussions, learning from other people’s posts.

For example, Facebook has 22 large groups, including topics like Beauty, Food & Drink, Self-Help, and Health & Wellness.

Here’s how you could use Facebook if you were doing a fundraising appeal for juvenile diabetes. Searching on “diabetes” in Facebook groups brought up this quote:

“Hey, I’m 15 years old and I was diagnosed when I was 5 years old. No one should have to deal with this disease, most of all kids. All we want is to live a normal life and we get hit with this. We need to find a cure so we and others don’t have to go through this pain.”

This one quote – discovered in less than two minutes of searching – gives you insight and empathy you could only get if you knew a kid with diabetes … a kid who was willingto talk to you about this intensely personal subject.

MySpace has two similar sections to explore for this type of insight: Groups and Forums. You can search both of them. Most other social networks have similar sections as well.

Feel free to ask questions. But do so respecting the people you’re talking to – the same way you’d do if you were talking face-to-face.

One warning about using any social network to broaden your understanding of your prospect: Do not post anything about products. Users of these groups and forums are totally against using them for advertising.

Social networking holds tremendous promise for you as a copywriter. All it costs is the time it’ll take you to explore the different sites … and a few clicks of your mouse.

Will everything you find be worthwhile? Of course not. But with so much potential available in social networks, you cannot afford to ignore them. Other copywriters aren’t!

This article appears courtesy of American Writers & Artists Inc.’s (AWAI) The Golden Thread, a free newsletter that delivers original, no-nonsense advice on the best wealth careers, lifestyle careers and work-at-home careers available. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.awaionline.com/signup/.

3 Ways to Write Your Compelling Copy

2009-07-05T02:07:00.001+08:00

Copywriters are sales executives behind the laptop. Whether they are agency-based or freelance, their job is effectively to write persuasive copy to promote an idea, brand or product. As long as they type on their keyboard, they must keep one goal in mind: will my reader read this?

Let me take this a bit further for you. Say you’re planning to write a brochure or flyer. What will you need? In a nutshell, a decent command of your chosen language. How do you string the words so your readers will read this to the end and then hire you or buy your product?

Here' are three things you can do to convert that creative expression of yours to a money making copy:-

Insert subtle commands. Tell your readers what you want them to do – in a subtle manner. You may insert these commands in any section of your copy. When you decide to use negatives, like ‘don’t’, make sure the phrase following it is something you want your reader to do. Confused? When someone told you ‘Don’t look down?’ Or ‘Don’t turn around?’, what are you inclined to do?
Tie in to emotions. At the end of the day, you and I spend our time, money and energy to acquire something that will make us feel good. What made you buy you last purchase? How do you feel about it? ;-)
Highlight benefits. Unless you are trained in IT lingo, you couldn’t care less what RAMs, CPUs, USBs, bus, GH, Pentium IV etc are. When a lawyer speaking legalese to you, might as well you hear someone speaking in alien language! A car with titanium cover means nothing to you unless you are told that you enjoy solid protection in the event of a crash.

To demonstrate, as you are reading this, don’t think of the taste and crunchiness of a green apple. Don’t think of how good the coffee brewing in the kitchen that will freshen you up!

Now tell me, what did you just think about? ;-)

Technorati Tags: hypnotic writing,meta model in copywriting,copywriting for results,compelling copy

You Can Go Far, but NLP Therapies DO NOT Substitute to Medical, Psychological and Psychiatric Attention

2009-07-04T00:49:00.001+08:00

NLP may be the most powerful vehicle for change in existence.

- Modern Psychology Magazine

Aye, NLP, or Neurolinguistic programming/psychology, is one powerful tool! During the Certification training, over and over again Dr. Horton repeats of how incredible this tool is. Wouldn’t you want to know about NLP?

The term NLP itself was coined by an Alfred Habdank Skarbek Korzybski.

To different people, NLP brings different meaning. Practitioners can joke that it’s messing with people’s mind. Others would say is a methodology to change the behaviour of a person from the inside to achieve success. Don’t be surprised if some NLP Practitioners say that NLP is ‘wake hypnosis’.

However your practitioner may refer to NLP, it is effectively an integration of several disciplines including neurology, psychology, linguistics, cybernetics, and systems theory. The components of Korybski’s term can be broken down to:

Neuro – As our experience, conscious and subconscious, comes through our senses and central nervous system;
Linguistic – Our mental process are all coded, organized, given meaning and transformed through our respective languages.
Programming – People, you and I, live our lives through a system composed of sequences of patterns, or ‘programs’.

The deeper you go into NLP, the more you realise that the key any success you want lies within you, through the way you perceive life. Your perception, beliefs, attitude, emotions and behaviours will direct yourself with the tools around you to achieve your goal.

As powerful as NLP may be, it is not substitute to professional and licensed medical attention. Similar to other alternative and complimentary therapies, there are no absolute guarantees. Reassurance comes within reason.

Application of NLP really extends beyond therapy. You’ll be amazed by what you can achieve with it! Even when applied as therapy, we’re really teaching you how to use your brain.

How will you find me applying NLP?

I constantly study excellence and then share the skills that promotes positive change that generates new possibilities and opportunities. If you find yourself ‘clicking’ with me and you feel better about yourself, you can suspect I just used my NLP knowhow on you. ;-) And what is wrong with leaving you in a better state?

Change Your Life With NLP!

2009-07-03T00:43:00.001+08:00

Hello everyone!

Do you have a goal that you would like to accomplish but never found the willpower or motivation?
Do you have an event in your past which is haunting you – preventing you from achieving your full potential?
Perhaps you would like to appreciate yourself more and see yourself being a better person?

I have the solution for you: NLP therapy!

After your FREE consultation, you deserve the best NLP therapy ideal to help you achieve your goals. The result of you being a better person: the ideal you!

What is ‘NLP’?

‘NLP’, or Neuro Linguistic Programming/Psychology, integrates neurology, psychology, linguistics, cybernetics, and systems theory allowing you to model or copy human excellence and helping you become adept at whatever you want to do.

Don’t think of the possibilities which you will get through this therapy. Instead focus on how you will see, hear and even feel yourself in a different light; a more empowering light.

Who’s the NLP Therapist?

You will go through the enriching and empowering experience guided by me, Aldric Tinker. I’m a Certified NLP Practitioner (NFNLP, USA) trained by William D. Horton, Psy. D., CADC, Founder of the National Federation of Neurolinguistics Psychology (NFNLP). Learn more about me by visiting my website, www.AldricTinker.com, now. It’s just a click away.

How can you reach me?

Drop me a call at +6 019 752 2788 now. Alternatively drop me an email at aldric@aldrictinker.com. Claim your FREE consultation session with me immediately!

Cheers!

Aldric Tinker

Certified NLP Practitioner (NFNLP, USA)

+6 019 752 2788 | aldric@aldrictinker.com | www.AldricTinker.com

NLP Exercise Relaxation Script

2009-06-30T22:42:00.001+08:00

During the Certified NLP Practitioner course, we were asked to administer the various techniques of NLP in our manual. After the second or third day, I started to pick up Dr. William Horton’s own opening and adapted my own.

You find below the extract of the email, i.e. my findings:-

Whenever you are ready, just close your eyes. Take a deep breath and relax. Let yourself to let go and relax. Every time you take a breath you become more relax. Every time you take a breath, the more relax you become.

Listen to your heart beat. Hear it, feel it beating inside you. With each beat you become more and more relax. Another beat, the more you sink into relaxation.

Don't try to resist it - the more you resist, the more relax you become. The more you feel rebellious, the more you let go.

That's it. Take a deep breath and relax.

<Start the 1st step here, e.g. Godiva Chocolate Pattern, New Behaviour>.

My personal remarks following this is as the following:-

If you chose to gesture, gesture according to the breathing pattern of the client/patient. I snap my fingers to act as an anchor or emphasis. You may use other means which you, again, feel is right or looks ok.

You do this naturally: feel the words come out of your mouth with ease. When you are calm and relax, so will your client be. And the more calmer you are, the easier it is for you to go through the pattern. To quote Dr. Horton's Mind Control - Mastering the Art of Constructive Influence, tell people what you want them to do! (p. 56, Mind Control).

If you want to use 'don't', use it to go towards your direction. Instead of "Don't panic!" Or "Don't worry", say "Don't think about you being relax because the more you do, the more you let go".. Or something along that lines.

Be simple. Use simple primary school words. Just in case the client/patient is not familiar with that particular word you are using. Bombastic is the last thing you want to think of.

Just as I have shared with my peers, I share this with you. :-)

Cheers!

Aldric Tinker, Certified NLP Practitioner (NFNLP, USA)

Technorati Tags: Neuro Linguistic Programming Kuala Lumpur,Certified NLP Practitioner Malaysia,Certified NLP Practitioner Kuala Lumpur,Dr. William Horton,Neuro Linguistic Exercise

Aldric Tinker, Certified NLP Practitioner (NFNLP, USA)

2009-06-29T07:46:00.001+08:00

It’s been a marvellous 5 days throughout the Certified Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner’s course. Dr. Will Horton is one great Master Trainer, considering that he’s got over 50k experience. Learning from this FBI-trained US Army Veteran just moves senses, creates ideas and combines old ones to become a greater solution. All five senses (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, and gustatory) practically came alive. You get to hear things more vividly, see things more relevantly and feel the way you should!

Besides one great facilitator and trainer, my fellow participants were also a bunch of inspiring and awesome people! We had the brightest of minds, the most sweetest of souls, the most enterprising of personalities! Everyone are special in their own way, so not meeting them after 5 days straight is slightly awkward. But hey! Wait! Being NLP practitioners, we practically established excellent rapport and communication with each other! We have the skills then as we have it today. It can be duplicated, no matter where, when and whom.

So, it’s a new day. My first day as a Certified NLP Practitioner. Let’s see what magical works I can do today. After all, the journey has just begun!

Thank you, all, for making this experience a great one!

With warm sincerity,

Aldric Tinker, Certified NLP Practitioner (NFNLP, USA)

What is it worth to you?

2009-06-29T02:36:00.000+08:00

During lunch on Saturday, Dr. William Horton, Niza, Phillip and myself sat at the table in the Best Western Premier Seri Pacific Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Amidst the aromatic restaurant coming from the buffet, we were talking about rates and professionalism continuing a remark Dr. Horton made.

When he was approached by a client who wanted to improve a particular skill, he paused for a moment. He looked at this person and tried asking one question he never asked before: if you get this result, what’s it worth to you?

Relating back to my experience, I have held back much of my potential ‘for the sake of gaining experience’. While my copywriting idol, Robert Bly, wrote in his book Secrets of a Freelance Writer – How to earn $100,000 or more that pricing is important. To charge peanuts, you get exactly peanuts. If you charge peanuts, your clients will see and feel that you are too insignificant to be bothered with. Here you will start to hear the little Critic in your head bashing you up.

My NLP Master Trainer’s insight reinforced a new belief I embraced after reading T. Harv Edgar’s Secrets of a Millionaire: I choose to be paid for my results.

So, what’s my stance on fees? How much do I charge for writing a script or a speech, a brochure or a flyer, a blog or other copywriting jobs, you have to know how much is it to you.

Before you answer that, think about it: what do you want by hiring me? What does that do for you? What does hiring me do for you? How would you feel and see when you do? What will you hear when you allowed one NLP Practitioner, trained by an FBI-trained U.S. Army veteran renowned Master Trainer of NLP, take up the job? Don’t think of how you personally can benefit from this experience – it is company or organisation sponsored!

So, what is your project worth to you?

Technorati Tags: Hypnotic writing,hypnotic communication,Neuro Linguistic Programming,nlp,speech writing for results,effective writing,result-oriented rewards,malaysia corporate communication,corporate writer,corporate communication,press releases,PR Agency,Advertising firms malaysia

Certified NeuroLinguistic Practitioner-in-Training

2009-06-28T00:54:00.001+08:00

Several weeks ago, I saw an advertisement in the newspaper: an intensive Certified NeuroLinguistic Practitioner program conducted by William Horton, Psy. D, CADC, and Founder of the National Federation of NeuroLinguistic Psychology (Programming), or NFNLP. I said to myself, “What if I tried this out? I’ve been reading about it and how it changes the lives of many. So why not?” After calling up the NLP Academy Sdn. Bhd., I got to speak with Ms. Veronica, there was a little hesitancy.

Like you, I find RM4,900 a big sum of money. But the burning desire within me grabbed my by the neck as said, “You’ll never get a chance like this in the near future! This is the best thing that can happen to you!” Then I reflected of the rewards and benefits of this programme. How would being a Certified NLP Practitioner benefit me and my clients? How would it affect the works that I write when you hear it is done by one? With the ability to persuade and communicate better through the many techniques shared by Adam Khoo in his book, Master Your Mind, Determine Your Destiny.

Once I got some spare cash, I deposited the amount immediately. Within 48 hours, I received a package after much anxiety. Honestly, I was worried of being conned, a feeling you appreciate as well.

In addition to that, I got the necessary documents:

I was exhilarated!

The day of the training arrived. It was mind opening, though confusing at first. I got to get the first photo with the learned Dr. Horton at the end of the day! :-D

As I’m writing this entry, I’m entering the final day of our course. We have covered most of the Manual. Practical sessions were conducted and I daresay I was hypnotised at least once! It was a refreshing and relaxing sensation which I hope to share with anyone and everyone who knows how much it’s worth to them.

Here I am, reflecting over the past few days. Just after I publish this entry, I will proceed to complete the examination which I need to excel to attain the title and credentials of a Certified NLP Practitioner. As I go through the manual and the exam questions, I will recall everything: the sounds, the sights and the sensation. It easy and effortless to apply NLP, in theory and in practice. You will benefit form this just as much as I. Besides the skills, the class of 20-odd people ranging from business people, top management and celebrities, is a group of people I am glad to call friends and fellow NLP practitioners!

Technorati Tags: Certified NLP Practitioner Course,Dr. William Horton,Neuro Linguistic Programming,NFNLP,National Federation of NeuroLinguistic Psychology,NLP Academy Malaysia,Hypnotic writing,therapy

Engage Your Mind, Hypnotise It!

2009-06-17T00:59:00.001+08:00

Hey there! Can I offer you a Krispe Kreme donut?

It’s been a while since I last updated this blog. Since then, besides the Men’s Health Refine & Define Challenge 2009 modules, one thing that I look forward to is the Certified NLP Practitioner Course I am attending from June 24 to 28, 2009.

Some time after reading Adam Khoo’s Master Your Mind, Design Your Destiny, the idea of NLP somehow got lodged in between the hemispheres of my brain. I was curious of this little course which changed this obscured boy’s life by leaps and bounds. Sure, his success isn’t attributed just to NLP, but it was a starting point.

One day I was browsing the papers, New Straits Times to be exact, I cam across this advert. A U.S. NLP Master Trainer is coming over to Malaysia later this month to teach the basics of NLP. What caught my attention was the certification. Just imagine: I’m going through the same road the Millionaire-at-24 trod before. Plus upon completion, I would enjoy a two-year membership with the Florida-based National Federation of NeuroLinguistic Programming (NFNLP).

Wait! Back up! What on earth is NLP?!

To answer that, I bought myself a little book – you know how I am with books!

After reading this book, which I bought at Times Pavilion for RM68.00, I come to conclude that NLP – or Neuro Linguistic Programming – is about speaking to your brain in a language it can understand so it could achieve a desired outcome. Embrace it or distance from it, NLP certification can be regarded as one of those craze a number of us are after. Used properly, it can improve lives. Check out that Adam Khoo guy again. ;-)

Let me give you some examples of the brochure:

Remove the emotional charge from unpleasant memories;
Be able to build rapport with anyone.
Control almost any situation.
Improving and using states of mind.
Defuse tense situations.

Besides paying for the 5-day intensive Certified NLP Practitioner programme, inclusive of lunch and tea breaks, you will receive a VCD, two books, the invoice, timeline of the programmes, programme materials and the two-year NFNLP membership.

This course will be conducted by William D. Horton, Psy. D., CADC, – a licensed psychologist, an alcohol and drug counsellor, a Master Trainer of Neuro Linguistic Programming, a Certified Hypnotherapist and trained through the Red Cross programme for Critical Incident Stress Debriefing. The good counsellor have also been trained by US’s FBI at the FBI Academy, Quantico, VA, and recently taught at an FBI Lead Crisis Negotiation Course. This veteran of the Army and Naval Reserve is also considered a leading expert in subconscious communications.

The five-day intensive module is organised at Seri Pacific Hotel Kuala Lumpur by NLP Academy, Power Events, Success Shop and Power Press & Design Sdn. Bhd.

Not bad, eh, for a 22-year old freelance copywriter?

Hmm… Maybe I’m able to get this Oris watch after all – without having to stake everything on a competition. After all, the idea was to be refined and defined! ;-)

Technorati Tags: Certified NLP Practitioner Course,Neuro Linguistic Programming,William D Horton,NLP Academy Malaysia,Change your life with NLP

Bengkel Intensif Penulisan Skrip II by Martias Mod. Ali

2009-05-01T01:15:00.001+08:00

The Bamboo Planet Agenda

2009-04-26T13:45:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the 3rd Annual General Meeting of the Malaysian Association of Creativity and Innovation (MACRI) at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Before we began our AGM at 11.40am, Y.Bhg. Dato’ Ghazi Sheikh Ramli, Founder/President and Innovation Evangelist, gave a talk on the Democratisation of Innovation. In the short 45 minutes talk, Y.Bhg. Dato’ President shared his experience at the Ideas Festival in Brisbane, Australia on March 28th, 2009. One message, or rather 2 misconceptions, which is inherent in YBhg’s talk are:-

The false idea that creativity is the domain of the artistes and artists, carvers and sculptors, musicians and writers, directors and actors etc.
The second false idea is that only scientists, inventors, ‘smart’ people have excusive access to being innovative.
The reality is creativity and innovation are traits inherent to every human being that is given life to exist on the surface of our planet Earth.

One challenge which Dato’ threw at the end of his talk involves the Bamboo Agenda: What can we make out of bamboo? What do we want bamboo to be? How do we create a Planet Bamboo? This challenge was thrown especially to members of MACRI.

After the AGM, I took the liberty of visiting the National Intellectual Property Exhibition 2009 at the ground level of the KLCC. MACRI was given the opportunity to open up a booth for the second – or was it the third year – running. :-p

At the expo, yours truly got to satisfy his cravings for the Dabai… a fruit indigenous to the State of Sarawak! Besides the pickled dabai, there was also a keropok dabai, a dabai pizza (yum!!!!). :-D I so miss home…

Bengkel Intensif Penulisan Skrip 2

2009-04-22T22:30:00.001+08:00

Here is a message I got in my Facebook mailbox. It’s an Intensive Screenwriting Workshop Series 2: Back by Popular Demand. Organised by Martias Mohd. Ali, this workshop is guaranteed to be fun, exiting and eye-opening.

Among others, the speakers have included Zaidi Omar and Wan Maimunah. As a participant of the 1st Intensive Screenwriting Workshop, I learned a lot and chances are I am returning back for more! ;-)

Details are as the follows:-

Bengkel Intensif Penulisan Skrip 2

Atas pemintaan ramai, kursus Intensif Penulisan Skrip untuk kali ke 2 akan di adakan di FINAS

tarikh : Ahad , Mei 10, 2009
Masa : 9:00am - 6:00pm
Location: FINAS Panggung Mini P. Ramlee, Jalan Hulu Klang
Yuran : RM 100.00

Kursus in hanya terhad kepada 100 orang pertama yang mendaftar sahaja dan segala kertas kerja latihan serta DVD bersangkutan akan di berikan kepada peserta.

Bagi mereka yang berminat untuk menyertai Bengkel Intensif Penulisan Skrip 2 ini bolehlah membuat pendaftaran dengan menghantar e-mail berserta:

Nama Penuh :
No Telefon :
Alamat :
Ref Pembayaran :

kepada alamat email seperti dibawah:

mr_martias@yahoo.com

untuk keterangan lanjut sila layari page ini :
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=95982525970&ref=mf

Sekian terima kasih

We Don’t Sell Products, We Sell Ideas

2009-04-21T12:27:00.001+08:00

When illustrating who or what a copywriter is, Robert Bly stated in his book that they are the salesperson behind a typewriter – now computer. What we do is we convince our prospects (the readers) to buy a particular product or engage a particular service. But that is just a general overview.

As a copywriter with some experience, I can deduce that we’re not exactly selling the products or services. Rather, we sell the idea of having the particular product or using the service.

Consider: we sell the idea of successfully trading foreign currencies, not trading currencies per se. Or how it’s like to live in a mansion, not the mansion itself.

In an investment kit I wrote earlier this month, the purpose of it – while to convince investors – was to sell the developer’s ideas. Supported by the visuals and layout, the fact of the matter is I’m writing to sell the idea of conducting your business in this particular development.

It’s not that I or my fellow copywriters are lying or deceiving. We’re just translating the features of the products or services into benefits. For example, I’m sure you are more interested in getting the ideal bodyweight and figure in a conducive environment rather than know a gym is air-conditioned, has 10 workers at any one time, supported by 5 cleaners in its two storey unit equipped with so much so exercise machines and weights.

Let’s do an exercise. When you read an ad in the billboards, papers or magazines, or come across one in the cinema, television and radio, what are they really trying to sell you? The idea of using the product or service, or the product or service itself?

Don’t forget to share your experience! Just comment this entry.

Solitary Writer, Distant Team Player

2009-04-20T14:34:00.001+08:00

When you’re a freelance writer, you write alone. Sure, you meet your clients every now and then. Like earlier this month, I met – for the first time in 7 months – my client who is based in Johor Bahru. But when you’re your one man show, does it give you the right to run things as you like it?

I’m not sure of how you’d approach this, but here’s how I would do it:

Yes, I decide where to do my work: whether it’s in my SOHO or at a café like Starbucks or Coffee Bean. As long as it’s within the deadline, I decide as and when to work on it. But imagine doing this routine over and over again for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years or even 15 years. People who crave a social life would be driven up even the Great Wall!

Some professionals call it client relations. In other industries, it’s known as customer relations. For me, it’s called being a team player. It’s not enough just to live in your own world. You have to go beyond your boundaries.

I write brochures on real estate. Some are high end. I’ve never lived in a mansion – but I’ve been into some. I’ve seen the big houses by the hills in Luak Bay, Miri. But how can I capture this and put it in a vocabulary spoken and used by the market group?

Besides doing the work, it’s the post-project relationship. You’re gonna have to send your invoice. Payments need to be made. You don’t want to have a bad working relationship.

The only way is to synchronise our approach. Your approach and mine.

So when you consider hiring a writer, don’t forget to think of the whole picture, not just the work. Ask yourself: are you really comfortable with this person?

Enjoying the Classics of Vivaldi

2009-04-19T17:35:00.000+08:00

I love baroque music. As I’m typing this entry, my fingers dance accompanied by Antonio Vivaldi’s La Primavera, The Four Seasons. Like many other arts, his music has a story to tell. True, I don’t listen to this piece often, but when I get to sit down quietly in my office alone, this is one song you’d hear coming out.

The strokes on the violin take your imagination into a different place. Colours and life seem to spring out of the ground…

During the slow and ‘quiet’ moments, your emotions swoop lower and it’s as if you’re flying over a pristine looking lake. You extend your arms to touch the surface. As your hands near it, you swoop higher and higher reaching for the clouds. A choir of men and women draped in white standing and sitting around the clouds pause their harmonic music to wave at you.

As it ends, you return down to the chair you were sitting on, back in the office.

Technorati Tags: Listening Vivaldi while writing,inspiring music for writers,getting into the mood with music,baroque music to get the juices flowing.

Why Hire Aldric Tinker?

2009-04-19T16:39:00.001+08:00

This afternoon, I have an interview with a panel from a leading media group in the country. It’s going to be my first interview for a job – never had one before. Huge leap from being an entrepreneur; but it is an experience I look forward. In preparing for the question “What can you share about yourself?”, I am forced to reflect on my past, my abilities and how far I can execute my role. On my wall, I have a postcard; I’ve had it for a while now. A good source of inspiration:

“Take pride in how far you have come. Have faith in how far you can go.”

A Jack of All Trades

My first days of Varsity

What have I done? While in Universiti Teknologi MARA Kedah, I was invited to present a paper at the National Students’ Conference 2005 held at Langkawi. Mind you, I just stepped foot into university. The conference was held in February 2005. Besides presenting the paper Students’ Perception on the Concept of World Class University, I was also part of the organising committee. I spearheaded the Sub Committee on Working Papers. My job? Assisted by fellow committee members and guided by the lecturer, is to compile and format the working papers submitted by the participants – including my own.

Where public speaking in concerned, I won second place in the inaugural Vice Chancellor’s Public Speaking Challenge 2005. Participants are from the various campuses under the UiTM system. I was still a Foundation student.

Before bagging the Siswa Harapan 2004/2005 of UiTM Kedah award, I spearheaded the Organising Committee on the College Festival 2006 in my campus. As the most junior member of the committee, I not only oversaw the programme as a whole, but had to handle and coordinate 20 sub-committees for the respective events, competitions as well as logistical committees. Besides balancing and re-appropriating the budget, I had to juggle studies at the same time. I am glad to share with you that despite some minor hiccups, the overall performance was beyond expectation.

In Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia

After moving to Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia in Shah Alam, I got involved in campus activities. The highlight of which would be the campus elections of 2007. I stood, along with 3 other candidates, for my faculty’s seat. Sadly, I did not succeed. That, dear reader, gave me a wake up call. Perhaps politics isn’t the road that I am meant to pursue – even though I have been prepping myself to fill in the shoes of my forefathers. Despite the loss, I quickly move to create a blog especially for Law Students. As my term expires, I am looking for interested individuals to take over From a Law Student’s Desk…. Somehow I find myself enjoying the private sector. Where you drive the initiative, you get to decide its future.

Since January 2008…

In January 2008, I moved to register my copywriting business with the Companies’ Commission of Malaysia (Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia). While I’d love to say that everything took off like a rocket on a mission to Mars, things were slow. Though slow, nonetheless I scored a job with the Bandar Puteri Online Community. In February 2008, I met with the founder, Mr. Darren Lee, at The Curve. The meeting went well, but soon after, commitments pushed me beyond capability to continue.

At the same time, I was contacted by the former Personal Secretary to a Member of the Senate, Parliament of Malaysia. Initially the task was to come up with a set of questions for the Dewan Negara’s sitting. From there, it became speechwriting. Suffice to say I wrote two speeches which were both delivered in Parliament and entered into the Hansard.

About this time, my Acer Aspire broke down. My work stored in the hard disk went along with it. Repairing it costs RM1,200. So my client, the Personal Secretary, took the liberty to replace it with a Sony Vaio VGN-NR310E. Have been using it ever since – generating more income for me.

In June 2008, I answered an advertisement in the New Straits Times. Submitted my resume and dropped a call to Ms. Wong. Since I was on holiday back then, having my semester break, time passed by fast with the Gawai celebrations, an engagement party and all.

The call came in August 2008. The task? To come up with headlines for a product brochure. Days turned into months, and months into year. Turn September 2008, projects began to flow in from Johor Bahru. And do you know what? I have been working with this advertising agency for over 7 months without having ever met them. I must credit this agency for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow. The following are the agency’s testimonial on my work:

"Working with Aldric was a wonderful experience. He was fast, professional, and easy to work with. His attention to detail and willingness to work to "get it right" was amazing. I would have no hesitation in recommending Aldric for his services."

Celia, Art Director

"Aldric was great to work with, very understanding and provided a professional service in a timely manner. We look forward to working with him again."

Chin, Art Director

In late September 2008, I took the liberty of heading to Yusmanja Entertainment and register myself as a member. Through this once a month experience, I managed to be a background actor in several drama on TV. Julia Juli, Dua Kali Aku Mencintaimu, Penghujung Rindu. With the assistance of my manager, Syed Khairul Aswad, I landed an extra role in Kasanova XXL – for which I receive comments from former university-mates and classmates alike.

Come December 2009, I attended a Screenwriting Workshop held at FINAS, Malaysia’s National Film Development Corporation. The workshop, organised by award-winning screenwriter Martias Mohd. Ali, opened up a whole new door for me. A door which I never imagined that I would open. It’s the world of creative writing.

Turn March 2009, I have had the opportunity to meet the people behind the Malaysian Association of Creativity and Innovation (MACRI). On March 26th, 2009, I received my membership confirmation letter. I am a full member of this umbrella NGO promoting creativity and innovation in this country. With the hopes to help society appreciate and explore their own creativity and innovation that this country would be equal not only in terms of development but also of substance, I am proud to affiliate with them. On April 15th, 2009, I was commissioned by this Association to preside over the launching ceremony of the Creativity and Innovation Week 2009 at Pusat Sains Negara (National Science Complex). My first job as an Emcee/MC (Master of Ceremony).

What I can Bring to the Table

Whether working as part of a team or leading my own one-man-show, you can expect the following from working with me:-

I believe I can fuse concepts and make them as pragmatic and as relatable as possible. What would begin as a far-fetched idea will be churned and turned to fit the market’s understanding, views and needs.
I am a team player, though I can work alone with minimal supervision. When in a team, I believe everyone has something unique which should be given attention, not just by the team leaders, but also fellow team members. We never know when an idea could generate millions of ringgit in revenue!
I work to achieve a goal. I will tune and hone my work to ensure that that goal is met. In the process, I am open to ideas and will weigh them according to their merits. As a copywriter, the buck also stops with me as far as copy is concerned. You entrust me to write copy, and quality copy you ought to receive.
Accountability is a value I take pride in. Even so, accountability alone isn’t sufficient. On top of accountability, it is equally important to be able to learn or unlearn, learn and relearn. Mistakes are part of the process – any process. To achieve optimal results, however, learn from these mistakes and never repeat them.
I don’t believe in dogma. I appreciate status quo, but dogma is a different set of issue. Adhering to principles and guides should they be proven effective is necessary. In the same breath, I’d try to explore other opportunities or methods to enhance or improve results.
Like you, I, too, like comfort zones. But while this comfort zone may feel good and safe, I become restless in it. I have to explore and expand. At the end of the day, I want to look back and say, “veni, vidi, vici”.

Need something written? Get a Copywriter!

2009-04-18T16:57:00.000+08:00

Working with freelance copywriters is not something new in the advertising industry. Every advertising agency has a list of their own copywriters. An agency may have more than one guy on standby. While these firms may be used to handling this type of business relationship, not many small and medium enterprises are aware of this. Sure, you meet some businesspersons who’d find copywriters. But a bulk majority of the market is unaware of it.

Wanna bet? Try asking people who meet, “what’s a copywriter?”

You will be amazed with the many replies.

In Bahasa Malaysia, the closest translation would be penulis iklan. Copywriters write the copy (advertising lingo for ‘text’) of adverts and marketing collaterals which includes brochures, sales letters, websites as well as your flyers.

Everyone who runs a business must have done this some point in their life. It’s nice to say everyone is a copywriter. Do you really want to spend money, time and energy writing something no one is going to read?

Copywriters, like yours truly, work on copy which would be read. Besides getting you to read, it’s our job to sell. Copywriters are professional sales executives who sell by writing.

Don’t blink or snap when you check out my fee schedule. It’s among the cheapest on the market. But cheapest isn’t without quality. Quality includes the facts, the persuasive and hypnotic principles, not to compel you or your readers to do something, but to sell the idea inside the copy.

Experience FUN while learning the coolest of Web 2.0

2009-03-30T17:51:00.001+08:00

I received this message in my Facebook inbox. Yes, I do have a Facebook account. Just click on the link to add me. ;-) Anyway, the sender of this message, Darren Lee, is an old acquaintance of mine. For a few months, we’ve worked together. It was a great experience – only I had trouble catching up back then due to other worldly commitments.

So, if you are interested, contact Darren directly at the email below.

Experience FUN while learning the coolest of Web 2.0.
------------------------------------------------------------------
We're a New Media company based at Gardens Mid Valley. We have recently been backed by 'A-List' Venture Capital (VC) Investors in Malaysia, who had also backed several well known, branded and award-winning companies which are now public listed. We specialized in the area of Internet media, and on various events and print media platforms.

We've IMMEDIATE Internship Positions for the following:
- **Bloggers!!**
- Online Marketers
- Marketing & PR

Types of Benefits:
===========
- Free Lunch on Wednesday!
- Internship Allowance = RM 500 / month!
- Great Learning Opportunities on how to develop Web 2.0 and monetize blogs, web apps, Facebook*, Twitter* and etc!**
- OTHER PERKS: Comfortable working environment with easy access to Mid Valley Gardens Mall & Mega Mall
- OTHER PERKS: Plenty of choices for Lunch with more than FIVE Food Courts within walking distance

For applications and inquiries, please send your resume to darrenlee@gmail.com.
Thank you.

Screenwriting Exercise

2009-03-27T14:07:00.000+08:00

Since I bought my Kodak EasyShare M863, I have never left it at home. Well, most of the time I carry it with me – except when I go to the grocers or run a short errand. One of the functions of this gadget is to help me record locations or scenes which could spark screenwriting ideas. Isn’t it easier to sometimes have a visual aid?

Here are some scenes I snapped. See how many scenes you can come up for every image. :-)

New Member within the MACRI Fold

2009-03-26T10:46:00.000+08:00

After much anticipation, finally it came true: Aldric Tinker is now officially a member of the Malaysian Association of Creativity and Innovation (MACRI).

MACRI, established under the leadership of Y.Bhg. Dato’ Ghazi Sheikh Ramli, is an association geared to promote creativity and innovation in Malaysia. As an NGO, it actively promotes how easy it is to being creative and innovative – and that neither the two are exclusive to the realms of the Arts and Science respectively. MACRI firmly believes that creativity and innovation are inherent traits programmed into every human being from birth.

Since its conception on 23rd September 2006 and when MACRI received the Registrar of Society’s seal of registration, it has gone a distance. Recently, a seminar was held at the MATRADE Building at the Duta Government Complex, Kuala Lumpur. MACRI Founding President, Dato’ Ghazi, gave a talk on “Thinking & Thriving during Turbulent Times”.

Along with my fellow members, I look forward to being part of MACRI’s growth and progress in delivering the word of creativity and innovation.

Technorati Tags: Malaysian Association of Creativity and Innovation,Innovation (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. Dato' Ghazi Sheikh Ramli,Thinking and Thriving During Turbulent Times

Charismatic Speeches Written from Under 48 Hours

2009-03-17T14:11:00.000+08:00

Do you remember that in classical times when Cicero had finished speaking, the people said, "How well he spoke", but when Demosthenes had finished speaking, they said, "Let us march."

Adlai Stevenson, 1900-65: Introducing John F. Kennedy in 1960; Bert Cochran Adlai Stevonson (1969)

Once upon a time, in a land called the United States of America, there was one young lad who captivated the imaginations, hopes and dreams of the torn American people. But alas, that young lad never got the chance to unite his brethren. To see his country succeed, he paid a heavy price - he paid with his life. Cicero and Demosthenes are alien names. Not many Malaysians have heard of the two men of the Ancient Western World. But today's world aren't missing people like the two:

John F. Kenendy, Former U.S. President;
Winston Churchill, Former British Prime Minister;
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Former Malaysian Prime Minister;
Barrack H. Obama, President of the United States of America.

While I cannot control how you deliver your speech - why should I? I'd rather adapt the text to you! - I can draw up the text which would radiate the charismatic jive you need to keep your audience on the edge.

Attention! If you are listed below, you will need my speechwriting service

For more reasons than one, speechwriters are an essential group of people any PR agency, company and individuals would need to have on call. Why? Speechwriters are professionals who dedicate their time to write the text. Since they constantly write speeches, they would know what they're doing than amateurs and non-professionals. The more practice they get over the years, the better their efficiency and ability. But let's not rule out the fact that they must remain as dynamic as possible to give the speeches an identity, a life on its own on paper.

But who exactly needs my service? The list includes, but is not limited to, the following:-

Local politicians;
Business figures;
Community leaders;
Members of Parliament;
Members of the State Legislative Assemblies;
Members of the Board of Directors;
Chambers of Commerce;
Business groups;
PR agencies;
Anyone and everyone who make regular presentations in public!

Why hire Aldric Tinker?

Here are the ten reasons why you should engage me to write your speeches:

Specialist writer - Speechwriting is my specialisation. I dedicate time, energy and money to constantly update myself with the latest and most pragmatic techniques and principles of speechwriting.
Legal background - From November 2004, I received my legal education from Universiti Teknologi MARA.
Infusion of Youth - Generations X and Y are entering the workforce. As Baby Boomers take the reins of the country, the people you need to attract are those 40 years and below. With the development of ICT, the latter generations are more informed and have a different level of thinking. What you need is someone who can adapt quickly to these audiences so you can deliver the best speech.
Experienced - Yes, I have written speeches for Parliament. Twice were they delivered in the Dewan Negara. Now I am offering this service to beyond the four walls of that august chamber.
Trilingual - Besides English, I can write both in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Iban. The speeches to Parliament were written in the national language. Don't expect all the words to be factual! They're sprinkled with proverbs, idioms and peribahasa.
Efficient - I don't believe in keeping my clients waiting. Thus, I aim to finish the job as soon as I get the order. Depending on the length of your speech, you can check out the timeframe I need to complete based on the table below. On top of that, I believe in utilising the Internet: it saves time, money and energy. If you really need to talk, I recommend calling. Why waste precious time?
High Adaptability - The person who delivers the speech is you or your boss or your client, not me. Because of that, the speech should reflect his or her style. Whether citing the Law, statistics or religious text to preferring full text or speech points, I adapt fast and well to these details. Certainly I don't subscribe to the syok sendiri/self-absorbed style of writing.
Resourceful - I have a collection of resources I need to execute the project. Where I cannot or do not have the knowledge, I would consult my references to ensure that the speech tallies and conforms to the context.
Value for Money - I charge by Ringgit Malaysia (RM)/Malaysian Ringgit (MYR). You may commission me from Singapore, Australia, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa etc., but the price remains the same. What about the fluctuation in exchange rates? Pay in the price stated in the invoice. Your invoice will include a price in your currency, having the exact or rounded value.
Result and Audience Oriented - Sure, anyone can write, what more draft a speech. However there is a line drawn where orientation is concerned. You get the script prepared to achieve a result, the result you want. Adding to that, the speech should appeal to your audience while complying to your own personal values and principles. How many are willing to go that extra nautical mile? You already know I am.

What are the Numbers?

Experienced speechwriters carry a hefty price tag. Why? If these guys were doctors, they would be considered brain surgeons - not many are in the market, and not all are freelancers. Usually they are in-house or full time employees.

When your project falls under the specific category, you can almost instantly get the price. Speech minutes refer to the amount of time allocated to the speaker you'd like written. Let the following table illustrate:-

Speech Minutes:	Completion Within	Rates
Under 20 minutes	48 hours / 2 working days	RM150 per speech minute
10 to 40 Minutes	72 hours / 3 working days	RM125 per speech minute
Over 40 minutes	170 hours / 5 working days	RM100 per speech minute

Just An Email/Phone Call Away

Do not hesitate to contact me now. I will be more than happy to answer your queries. You never know when you need someone beyond competent to write charismatic speeches. The number is +6 019 752 2799. Email me at info@aldrictinker.com.

Technorati Tags: penulis teks ucapan,ucapan untuk Parlimen Malaysia,Malaysian professional speechwriter,charismatic speechwriter,local speechwriter,speechwriting for the international market

Services & Fee Schedule

2009-03-16T12:00:00.000+08:00

After debating this for over a year, prospects and clients alike can now refer to this entry for the services you can get from AldricTinker.com and the price range for each item.

For both local and international clients, my fees are in Malaysian Ringgit (MYR)/Ringgit Malaysia (RM).

The amount quoted below are general figures. Because your needs are unique and different, please email me at aldric@aldrictinker.com and CC to aldric.tinker@yahoo.com for specific quotations that would fit into your budget. The bolded red colours are my specialty.

No.	Project Type	Cost (RM)
1.	Print Ads (Full-page ads)	RM300 to RM900
2.	Print Ads (Partial page ads)	RM180 to RM300
3.	Advertorials	RM300 to RM240/page
4.	Annual reports & prospectus	RM2,000 to RM15,000
5.	Book ghost-writing	RM100 to RM200/book page
6.	Book proposals	RM500 to RM1,000
7.	Booklets	RM1,500 to RM2,500
8.	Brochures	RM80 per brochure page
9.	Business plans (Editing)	RM1,500 to RM2,000
10.	Business plans (Complete)	RM5,000 to RM10,000
11.	Case histories and application briefs	RM300 to RM2,500
12.	Catalogs	RM150/catalog page to RM1000/page
13.	Teaser & Lead Generation Emails	RM150 to RM2,000 per page
14.	“Long copy” e-mail	RM300 to RM3,500
15.	Feature articles	RM300 to RM4,000
16.	Flyers	RM150 per page
17.	Labels & Packaging	RM150 to RM2,500
18.	Landing pages (Microsites)	RM3,500 to RM7,500
19.	Magalogs	RM7,000 to RM15,000
20.	Manuals	RM400 per day
21.	Multimedia presentations script (10 minutes)	RM150 to RM350 per minute
22.	Newsletter	RM300 to RM750 per page
23.	Postcards	RM500 to RM2,000
24.	Press releases	RM80 to RM160
25.	Proposals	RM100 per page to RM200/page
26.	Grant proposals	RM100 per page to RM200/page
27.	Radio commercials	RM400 to RM800
28.	Report writing	RM50 to RM85/hour
29.	Résumé	RM50 to RM80
30.	Sales letter	RM750 to RM2,500
31.	Self Mailers	RM1,500 – RM2,500
32.	Speeches	RM150 to RM200 per speech minute
33.	Website Content	RM80 per segment to RM1000/ page
34.	White paper	RM2,000 to RM7,000

Technorati Tags: copywriting fee schedule,senarai harga perkhidmatan menulis,penulis korporat malaysia,corporate writer malaysia,brochure writing,speech writing,proposal writing,scriptwriting,screenwriting,manual writing,corporate communications,komunikasi korporat,hubungan luar dan pengantarabangsaan,Print Ads (Full-page ads),Print Ads (Partial page ads),Advertorials,Annual reports & prospectus,Book ghost-writing,Book proposals,Booklets,Brochures,Business plans (Editing),Business plans (Complete),Case histories and application briefs,Catalogs,Teaser & Lead Generation Emails,“Long copy” e-mail,Feature articles,Flyers,Labels & Packaging,Landing pages (Microsites),Magalogs,Manuals,Multimedia presentations script (10 minutes),Newsletter,Postcards,Press releases,Proposals,Grant proposals,Radio commercials,Report writing,Résumé,Sales letter,Self Mailers,Speeches,Website Content,White paper

Oh, my Character, I love thee like a Summer's Day!

2009-03-10T11:00:00.001+08:00

Ask any seasoned writer what is the most important aspect of a story after the plot. She would answer 'the character'. Why?

Before I answer the question, let's take you as an example. After leaving the cinema or turning of the TV set, what will you talk about? What would you kids or little brothers and sisters talk about? The colour of the cartoons? Or the storyline? I'm sure you'd agree with me when I say that you'd end up talking about the characters, if not the cast. Kid's will remember the Red Ranger from the Power Rangers. After watching a thriller/suspense flick, you'd remember the anaconda, the bees, the spiders and even the crocodile. Harry Potter fans would beg to differ - they'd remember Daniel Radcliffe. ;-)

Characters move the story. The storyline is dull without characters. How can you understand a scenario when you cannot experience it yourself? Or at least have no reference point to relate to?

The question which any screenwriter - pro or amateur, new or veteran - needs to answer is 'how to create compelling characters?'

One way I can share with you now is by asking the market. So, dear friend, what would you like to see in a character? What are their weaknesses and their strength? What traits do they have?

Technorati Tags: character creation,character development,watak dan perwatakan

Volunteer Contributors Wanted

2009-03-01T11:05:00.000+08:00

PenulisMalaysia@Blogspot is currently looking for volunteer bloggers and regular contributors. Whether you are a seasoned writer or someone who's passion is writing, do not hesitate to email me at aldric.tinker@yahoo.com.

The areas which would like to cover are PenulisMalaysia@Blogspot:-

Blogging;
Fiction/creative writing;
Creative writing in Bahasa Malaysia;
Creative Writing in a Local Dialect/Language;
Screenwriting/Script writing;
Poetry and similar wordplay;
Academic writing in Bahasa Malaysia;
Academic writing in English;
Folklore;
On becoming an author.

You can always propose an area not listed above.

Also, if you have any information on events, happenings, competitions which would benefit Malaysian writers or writers in Malaysia, feel free to contact me at the email above. I would publish the entry as soon as I can.

As a blogger, your role would be as the follows:-

To update PenulisMalaysia@Blogspot in the area which you have been assigned to;
To promote the blog as and where you can or see appropriate;
To inform members of the Facebook Group and Other groups created under the banner of PenulisMalaysia as sanctioned by the Creator.

What are the benefits? At the moment I cannot promise monetary rewards. However there are benefits which you get from contributing. Among others, they are:-

Visibility and the creation of a fan base;
Learning experience from the various talented individuals who have supported the movement;
Experience of working in a virtual team;
Securing a legacy you can be proud of.

Announcing In-House Story Writing Competition

2009-02-23T14:44:00.001+08:00

Coming your way this March.

A short story competition.

Brought to you by PenulisMalaysia@Blogspot.

Win a Gift Card worth RM60!

Details to be announced on March 1st, 2009...

On Blog Layout

2009-02-23T14:29:00.001+08:00

Personally I prefer to read blogs with simple lay out. Too many columns and sections just turn me off - not to mention the attempts to navigate around. If I don't see the content, I just exit it.

How about you? What are your views on blog layout?

Exclusively on PenulisMalaysia@Blogspot...

2009-02-02T14:18:00.001+08:00

Wait for the announcement later today: a PenulisMalaysia@Blogspot exclusive!

Writing Exercise 1: All he wanted was to buy coffee...

2009-01-29T14:05:00.001+08:00

Here's an exercise I decided to use today to jumpstart my writing brain. :-) The idea is to create the beginning of stories from the line "All he wanted was to buy coffee..." I'm not going to dive into writing a script about it for now. You could go the extra mile and actually write up stories beginning with the line. Turn of censorship and you'd be amazed with what you can drum up. :-D

All he wanted was to buy coffee; he did not expect to land in the hospital after a car ran into him that morning.
All he wanted was to buy coffee. But when he reached home, he found the bodies of his wife and kids scattered in the living room.
All he wanted was to buy coffee, instead he was hired as a spokesperson for that label!
All he wanted was to buy coffee, never in his wildest dreams did he expect to win the 1,000,000th person to shop at the Hypermarket!
All he wanted was to buy coffee, not being chased by a pack of wild dogs up the tree!
All he wanted was to buy coffee, instead he got served with a notice of bankruptcy.
All he wanted was to buy coffee but the sale signs lured him to buy something more than that.
All he wanted was to buy coffee for tomorrow - now he's being tied to his bed in nude by 3 hookers he picked up along the way.
All he wanted was to buy coffee, but passing the bank was a big mistake when he was taken as hostage!
All he wanted was to buy coffee for a nice quiet morning... which ended when he met his mother-in-law at the store.
All he wanted was to buy coffee and complete some office work, not ending up with a baby!
All he wanted was to buy coffee, now he brings home a son he never knew he had!
All he wanted was to buy coffee at the store down the block, not being chased by a mob accusing him of being a peeping-tom!
All he wanted was to buy a coffee, instead he got the bullet on the day the war began.
All he wanted was to buy coffee but his girlfriend leaves him after she finds him smooching with her twin sister at the store! (wtf?!)
All he wanted was to buy coffee. So when he met Sophia in the line, their romance kicked off. That was 60 years ago.
All he wanted was to buy coffee, he didn't know he entered a kink pub instead!
All he wanted was to buy coffee when the old store owned died when giving him back his change!
All he wanted was to buy coffee, not being involved in a protest rally!
All he wanted was to buy coffee, but his car died on him in the middle of the road to nowhere.

Come up with as many scenarios as you can. It could be interesting! :-D As for me, I gotta start working on some proposals.

Cheers,

Aldric

Wishing You A Happy Lunar New Year!

2009-01-26T16:15:00.001+08:00

The Rat of the past Year makes room for the handsome Ox. The great Tai Sui takes up his post. It's that tie of the year once again where the Chinese community the world over comes out to celebrate and say:-

Gong Xi Fa Chai!

May the Ox herald in a steady caravan of opportunities, joy and successes throughout the year!

The Moon Rises No More

2009-01-22T16:40:00.002+08:00

This is a 15-scene story which was supposed to be my entry to a local scriptwriting competition. Note that this is my first attempt. You'll find that the dialogue is absent - I didn't include it. :-p Your opinions are most welcomed! :-D

FADE IN:

INT. NISA'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

A rough male voice booms across the silent night, drowning the sound of the storm outside. KAMARIAH, 40s, tries to calm her husband, AMER, 40s. Despite her tears and her pleas, her husband’s fury seemed to have no bounds. The disappointment on his face clearly shows as he tries to stop his own river of tears.

Behind the wall, on the stairs, AMEERA, 16, looks silently at her parents. She is scared to see her parents hysterical. Tighter and tighter she clenches onto her teddy bear. Piercing the noise, she hears the wail from upstairs.

INT. NISA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

NISA, 19, cries uncontrollably lying face down on her bed. In rage, she punches and hits the bed before throwing everything off her bed. As the pillows and teddy bears flung to the floor, she lets out a disappointed wail.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Amer bangs on his daughter’s locked door.

INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE NISA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

In a fit of rage, Amer’s kicks and punches land on his eldest daughter’s door. As if possessed, he continues to disregard Kamariah’s fearful cries. Amer continues to curse and hurl insults to Nisa.

INT. NISA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

A scared Nisa, forcefully trying to mum her cry, walks slowly towards the door. Her hand reaches out to touch it during a moment of silence. Just as her palm touches the surface of the door, she let out a scream and venting out her anger. Nisa turns around and leaned against the door and ending up sitting by allowing her to drop to the floor.

Weakened by the preceding events, Nisa reaches out to a teddy bear. Then she hugged it so closely and tightly.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE A KINDERGARTEN CLASSROOM - DAY (FLASHBACK)

Frightened of being left by her mother, NISA, 4, cries. Some of the other children inside the classroom were crying as well. Others were playing their toys. One or two were napping. After calming the kids down, the TEACHER, 20s, moves gracefully towards Nisa and her mother.

Only after being comforted by both the friendly lady and her mother, Nisa lets go of Kamariah’s baju kurung.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. PLAYGROUND - DAY (FLASHBACK)

NISA, 6, and her family walks across the playground towards a bench. Midway Nisa runs off from the group towards the slide. She climbed to the top excitedly and then called out to her parents. While AMER, 30s and KAMARIAH, late 20s, were not looking, a pair of hands gave Nisa a nudge causing her to slide down, scratching her knees in the process. Out of shock, Nisa wailed out.

Kamariah passed AMEERA, 3, to Amer and ran towards her daughter the moment she heard Nisa’s voice. As Kamariah consoles her daughter, Amer scolds a group of young boys. Kamariah calls out to her husband as she walks toward their car in haste.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. NISA'S LIVING ROOM - DAY (FLASHBACK)

Kamariah goes into the kitchen and returns with a medicated oil. With care and patience, she rubs the ointment onto Nisa’s knee. Ameera clings on to her father while looking on curiously at her sister as the later resists the stinging sensation and cries further.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. NISA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT (PRESENT)

Nisa picks herself up and makes her way slowly to her wardrobe. She opens the door and throws out all her clothes. Shaking with fear and sorrow, Nisa reaches out to get a black plastic bag. After that she crosses the messy bedroom floor to her dressing table.

Steadily, while holding the tears back, the young lady unties the knot and pours the content onto the table top. As the contents fall, her gaze was affixed to her reflection.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. PLAYGROUND - DAY (FLASHBACK)

JOE, 26, leaves a group of his friends and walks towards NISA, 18, and AMEERA, 15, who were deep in conversation on the swings.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. NISA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT (present)

Holding her gaze, a tear seeps from Nisa’s eyes. Scattered on her table were empty strips of paracetamol, menstrual pills and birth control pills. Nisa’s left hand reaches for the jug of water she normally keeps in her room. Her right hand, slowing moving towards her opening mouth, is filled with the drugs.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT JOE'S CAR, PARKED BY A LAKE GARDEN - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)

Joe’s hand flies from the break handle to Nisa’s knee. Nisa places her right hand on it as her left hand wraps around Joe’s neck. Joe looks at Nisa full with lust; Nisa looks at her boyfriend with a cheeky look.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. JOE'S APARTMENT, OUTSIDE HIS ROOM - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)

Joe leads Nisa into his room, hand-in-hand. The lights went out in the room. Nisa & Joe’s laughter can be heard from the room – the door was left ajar.

The lights of the apartment, too, were turned off. Against the light coming through the windows, one by one, four shadows crept into Joe’s room.

Nisa’s scared & surprised voice could be heard. Her shouting was muffled.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. NISA'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)

19-year old Nisa was being carried into her home at 3.00 am. Hearing the commotion downstairs, Amer and Khadijah ran down the stairs with worry etched on their faces. As their sight landed on hysterically crying Nisa, confusion gripped them.

Nisa stumbles upon her words as she tries to tell them Joe raped her. Amer flew into rage and showered Nisa in his wrath. Stunned and speechless, Kamariah paused for a few beats. The moment she leaves her trance-like state, she began praying for forgiveness in a wail.

Screaming back at her parents, Nisa stood and ran up the stairs leaving a trail of tears.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. NISA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT (PRESENT)

A weak Nisa drops into her chair. Her hand brushes against the jug which fell onto the floor and shattered into pieces.

INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE NISA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

After hearing the crash from her sister’s room, Ameera knocked on the door and calling out to her sister. The knocking turned into banging before Ameera shouted for her parents.

INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - NIGHT

A weak and pale Nisa was rushed into the ER. Her eyes opened weakly and she caught sight of her parents and Ameera. Nisa struggled to push the words out of her mouth. She blacks out.

FADE OUT.

Freelance Corporate Writer & Copy Consultant

2009-01-20T16:47:00.001+08:00

Freelance Corporate Writer & Copy Consultant

Hello there! Check this out:-

My name’s Aldric and I’m the writer that completes your copywriting project by 10am tomorrow. With over a year’s experience backed by legal knowledge and skills, I help my clients prepare compelling copy to achieve their business needs. Whether their targeting the local market or international, I’m always ready to help them to the best of my abilities.

Who do I write for?

· Corporate and public figures;

· Corporate clients;

· Advertising firms.

What copy do I write?

· Speeches;

· Brochures, flyers, hand outs;

· Posters & print ads;

· Direct mail;

· Web content & blogging.

How do you reach me?

· Call +6 019 752 2788 or +6 012 222 7716/+6 013 344 3891 (Syed);

· Send an email to aldric@aldrictinker.com or syed@aldrictinker.com; or

· Visit http://www.aldrictinker.com.

Don’t wait a second longer! My Manager and I are readily available to provide copywriting solutions which you’d need done by tomorrow, 10 a.m.

Head and shoulders above the rest,

Aldric Tinker

Freelancing Copy Solutions Provider.

A Cup of Tea You Won't Like

2009-01-20T12:54:00.002+08:00

This blog is dedicated to writing. A simple task which even a 4 year old can now do. You'd agree with me if I said anyone who had an education can write. However, not everyone is willing to love writing hours upon hours. Even rare are those who are willing to actually study techniques of writing for the various purpose.

Writer's Lifestyle

If you want to make a living out of the pen and keyboard, you must be prepared to work alone. Especially true in the first few months when you cannot afford someone else.

I've been doing copywriting since January 2008. In December 2008, I stepped into the world of screen writing and script writing. To accommodate all this, I need to convert one room in the house and turn it into a SOHO - a small office, home office. Herein lies two desks, one for me and another for my housemate cum operation & technical manager. I'm lucky that this guy is willing to sacrifice some of his time on top of regular work to keep me going.

When Even the force has a dark side

Motivation. The number one issue which entrepreneurs and writers have to face. Sometimes it's easy to loose focus of things. You need to constantly remind yourself what you want to achieve. To a degree, you have to be self-sustaining as there's no one else to remind you.

No employee benefits. When you're working alone, there are no employee benefits. Unless you sign a contract with yourself that You the Boss would provide medical & dental benefits to You the Writer. Forget about the EPF and Bonus. You're going to have to work that out yourself.

No Opportunities for Promotion. If you're a freelance writer, it's a dead end job. You don't get a promotion as long as you're not having a 9-to-5 job. You can change your job title - I did that once before - but that's all. Your salary may or may not rise. Unless your working just won the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature or even an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, you won't impress the ladies (or guys, depending on your sex and gender). I have a registered business which I operate from. But compared to a Creative Director at so-so-and-so Advertising Firm or Publishing House, I'm nothing.

No Stable Income. There's no such thing as a monthly paycheck, except if your publisher pays you monthly royalty. For the first 9 months of last year, despite having jobs, I did not make anything more than RM100. In fact, I had been screwed by a client. The agency refused to honour the invoice. This month, I received a cheque for RM220. Good and ideal if you still receive a monthly allowance from your parents or already have a sound source of income/savings.

No Colleagues. Most of the time I work alone. Unless you're lucky enough to convince your wife and family to write with you, chances are you'd be doing it alone. So you'd be staring at the computer surrounded by four walls in solitude. If you're a social person, expect your life to be dull.

The Sunny side up

Freedom of Time. I play games on working hours. Despite a looming deadline at 3pm today, I can even go take a shower and enjoy the TV. One hour or two before the deadline, I get back to the job. 'Lazy' you may say. But my productivity and morale is better after such incubation sessions compared to without. Perhaps it also comes as a form of motivation? But in any case, this is making me love my work as a writer. As long as I mind the deadline and appointments, my time is mine to decide.

Did I mention, there's no fixed working hours! I can just sit at my desk immediately after I wake up - still in my pyjamas and all. Alternatively I can just not be at my desk the whole day! There are times I slept late or wake up extremely early in the morning. Instead of having your time being dictated and controlled, you set your own schedule and time table.

Freedom of Commitment. When on company property and company hours, you're not allowed to do anything not profiting the company. You can't draft the first few chapters to your latest novel. If the child is crying, you cannot attend to her. When a stack of paper is dumped onto your desk, you're expected to complete everything by day's end. The scenario is completely different for a freelancer!

I decide which projects to accept, reject or discontinue. I'm not compelled to rewrite over and over again endlessly. At my Terms of Service page, I specified how far of my services are free and how far are charged. When drafting the invoice, I decide to include or omit the 'Miscellaneous Services Fee'. Now it's omitted.

When I have no project to complete, I create something. I start working on story development for my script writing projects. I write entries to my various blogs. When there's an exhibition or two, I'd be making my way there. Since I am a registered talent with Yusmanja Entertainment, they'll offer me extra/acting jobs every now and then. I can even attend courses and classes because my timetable is extremely flexible. If all else fails, I read. The idea is to keep me busy. I believe in something I read: if you want something done, give it to busy people.

Total Enjoyment of Earnings. As a writer-entrepreneur, I get to fly solo. I decide to share the earnings or not. Unlike employees paid a fixed income, they may generate RM100,00 with what they did. With each month, it can be either more or less than the value. Nonetheless, this dedicated employee would always be paid RM3,500. Throw in the annual bonus and incentives every now and then. As for freelancers? They keep all their earnings - until the tax collector knocks on the door that is. :-p

Why I Do It

Some may complain the tea being too sweet or too bitter. Perhaps Lipton and Boh are not exactly your choice. You'd prefer Jasmine or Mint or even Green Tea. As for me, I'm liking this because of the perks. True, the downfalls are there: I am hired as long as my clients like me. Competition is fierce. I'm fighting for attention in a field where it's getting more and more crowded.

Let me share with you something: I enjoy the freedom. It's not the remuneration that matters 100%. But it's the freedom to decide where I'm going, how fast and when. More importantly, I get to decide why am I doing all this. Thanks to the initiative, I now have 1 year working experience even while in varsity!

Once I have that goal, I will figure out ways to achieve it. Then I take that initiative to move towards the goal. I'm putting everything on the line here. It's not that I'm desperate. I still have a bed of roses to fall onto. But as time rapidly changes, I doubt that being on the left side of the quadrant is for me.

Is this your cup of tea?

Screenwriters, The Workbook You May Need~!

2009-01-19T23:23:00.002+08:00

Technorati Tags: plot points,character arc,plot chart,plot structure,character development,character creation

Technorati Tags: Screenplay Workbook

Managing Ideas, Adapting for Effect

Writing is a task dealing with ideas. When you're like me, ideas come anytime, anywhere. Sometimes when you least expect it.Jolting it down in a special note book is one thing. You still can loose that piece of parchment. Ideas alone, however, does not guarantee that the script would incorporate that idea. In some instances, as you would experience, you may need that guide to organise these ideas.

Realising this, I bought The Screenplay Workbook - The Writing Before the Writing. The authors of this practical book are Jeremy Robinson and Tom Mungovan (published by Lone Eagle). Unlike the typical textbooks on writing, the pages are filled with minimal instructions. What's practical about it is that over half the pages are forms! Very neat!

What's Inside...

Instead of having one copy of each form, you'd get at least ten pages. The forms cover a wide array of elements needed to make that script a marketable one. These tools cover:-

Concept Creation;
Character Development;
Character Relationship;
Plot Structure;
Plot points;
Character Arc;
Plot Chart; and
Scene.

What This Book Is Not

Don't get me wrong, this book is not a comprehensive textbook used for exams. Rather, it provides you with tools (read: forms) that you can use and reuse to organise your thoughts and ideas. You might be surprised with what you can achieve.

While students of Screenwriting/Scriptwriting may find this book too simple, those of us who are not on that side of the fence, yet, would reap the benefits. After all, not all screenwriters are lucky to have attended a workshop or course. Sometimes such programmes are inaccessible.

Worth the Investment

Especially if you're not from the creative arts background, this book is for you. As for me, I've only attended one workshop - the one organised by Mr. Martias Mohd. Ali last December. Other than that, a Legal background. Hence, you would appreciate how much I welcome the use of this material.

On Amazon.com, you can get a copy for $16.71 plus free shipping (terms and conditions apply). I bought mine at Kinokuniya Suria KLCC for RM76.21.

Learning to turn writing to business~

2009-01-19T00:08:00.001+08:00

Why Shouldn't Creative Writing be Profitable?

When people speak of writers and authors, somehow the poverty idea comes to mind. Strangely, the idea either conjures up some big shot writer who's work have been a smashing hit like the Harry Potter series or The Secret on one hand. In the other, it's usually a guy or gal in a flat, sharing with other people until the age of 40-something, barely making an end.

If you think of it properly, writing - like any other undertaking - can both be profitable, ample or insufficient. Included in this list are selling nasi lemak and burgers, cutting another person's hair, etc. What if you had a way to make use of you hidden talent?

Limkokwing's Diploma with a Twist

Imagine in three years, you studying creative writing. After you end half of those classes, the other half you spend learning principles of making it profitable. I came across this programme as I was searching the Net for similar courses. Stopping short of a 'double diploma', the Entrepreneurial Diploma in Creative Writing at this university leaves a unique impression.

Give Your Feedback or Share Your Experience

If you're keen on pursuing this programme, head on to http://www.limkokwing.net. The programme's page is here.

Technorati Tags: Limkokwing,Entrepreneural Diploma in Creative Writing,profitable writing

Sekiranya anda mahu menghadiri sesi ujibakat ..

2009-01-17T20:48:00.001+08:00

Sekiranya anda mahu menghadiri sesi ujibakat ini sila sahkan kedatangan anda di page ini :
To members of ♥♥ CASTING ♥♥

Pada:
Tarikh : 21 hb Januari 2009
Waktu : 6 petang keatas

bertempat di :
Suite 2-39B , Level 3 ,
Wisma Rampai, Taman Seri Rampai ,
53300 , Kuala Lumpur

sila sahkan kedatangan anda di page ini :

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=55153857602

Sesi ♥♥ CASTING ♥♥ Kini Bermula Sekali Lagi!!!!!

2009-01-17T20:47:00.001+08:00

CASTING - PART 2
To members of ♥♥ CASTING ♥♥

Sesi ♥♥ CASTING ♥♥ Kini Bermula Sekali Lagi!!!!!

Sesi Casting "bahagian pertama" telah dijalankan pada 14 Januari 2009 yang lalu. Namun ramai yang tidak dapat menghadirkan diri ke sesi ujibakat itu kerana tarikh pengumuman event itu yang diumumkan terlalu singkat.

Oleh itu , pihak kami mengadakan Sesi Ujibakat kali kedua bagi ahli ahli group ♥♥ CASTING ♥♥ yang tidak berkesempatan untuk menonjolkan bakat mereka pada 14hb Januari lalu ..

Sesi Casting akan dilakukan di :

Suite 2-39B , Level 3 ,
Wisma Rampai, Taman Seri Rampai ,
53300 , Kuala Lumpur

Tarikh : 2hb Januari 2009
Waktu : 6 petang keatas

Jika ada sebarang pertanyaan sila hubungi:

En Misnin Md Ehsan 012-2337858,
En Martias 0173701651

Sila Bawa :
gambar berukuran 4R atau 5R / profile colour photo
Simple biodata

Sekiranya anda mahu menghadiri sesi ujibakat ini sila sahkan kedatangan anda di page ini :

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=55153857602

Terima kasih dan jumpa and di sana....

2nd Casting untuk Filem Kapsul

2009-01-17T20:45:00.001+08:00

2nd Casting untuk Filem Kapsul
To members of ♥♥ CASTING ♥♥

Anda semua dijemput untuk sesi ujibakat filem Kapsul pada :-

Tarikh : 21hb Jan 2009
Masa : 6.00 prtang hingga selesai
Lokasi : 2-3-9B, Tingkat 3, Wisma Rampai,Wangsa Maju, KL

Sila bawa bersama biodata serta sekeping gambar ukuran poskad.

Tel : 017-3701651 - Martias
017-2515859 - Adza
012-2337858 - Misnin

Penangguhan Bengkel Penulisan

2009-01-16T20:16:00.002+08:00

From my Facebook Inbox.

Penangguhan Bengkel Penulisan
To members of Bengkel Penulisan Skrip TV & Filem

Minta di maklumkan..

Adalah saya dengan rasa kecewa ingin memaklumkan bahawa Bengkel Penulisan Skrip Bertempat Di MPC Bandar Baru Uda pada 18hb Januari ini terpaksa di tunda ke satu tarikh yang akan di beritahu kelak atas sebab-sebab yang tidak dapat dielakkan.

Juteru itu saya ingin menyusun jari di atas segala kesulitan yang berlaku kepada kawan-kawan yang telah berdaftar untuk menyertai bengkel ini terutamanya dari negara Singapura.

Namun bengkel ini akan tetap saya anjurkan juga pada satu tarikh yang akan saya umumkan tidak lam alagi.

Maaf sekali lagi.

Martias Mohd Ali
0173701651

Adding Google AdSense to PenulisMalaysia

2009-01-16T11:25:00.002+08:00

Starting Friday, January 16th, 2009, Google AdSense will be added to PenulisMalaysia@Blogspot. While I may not have absolute control over the adverts, I hope you find them useful.

If you are a subscriber to AdSense or Nuffnang, I hope you could share your experience using either two of the PPC systems. I'm sure other aspiring bloggers would like a dig on the secrets as well. ;-)

Sesi ♥♥ CASTING ♥♥ Kini Bermula!!!!!

2009-01-14T09:02:00.001+08:00

Sesi ♥♥ CASTING ♥♥ Kini Bermula!!!!!

Anda dijemput untuk menghadiri sesi "CASTING" pada 14 Januari 2009 untuk sebuah Filem yang akan bermula penggambaran pada bulan April akan datang..

Sesi Casting akan dilakukan di :

Suite 2-39B , Level 3 ,
Wisma Rampai, Taman Seri Rampai ,
53300 , Kuala Lumpur

Tarikh : 14th Jan. 2009
Waktu : 5 petang

Jika ada sebarang pertanyaan sila hubungi:

En Misnin Md Ehsan 012-2337858,
En Martias 0173701651

Sila Bawa :
gambar berukuran 4R atau 5R / profile colour photo
Simple biodata

Jika anda akan menghadiri sesi Casting sila confirmkan kedatangan anda di page ini :

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=128934950120

Terima kasih dan jumpa and di sana....

-adza irdawati-

The Classic Three Act Structure

2009-01-08T13:01:00.009+08:00

The Three Act Structure is one of the many formula which you use to write that award-winning story. Fairly simple, as you can see. While the Structure is inspired by Aristotle and Joseph Campbell, there are many versions out there (Russin & Downs, 2003). I personally prefer to see this as a guide as opposed to a rule engraved in stone.

It's really jargon for the Beginning, the Middle and the End. You can conclude it as the following:

Act One - The Situation, i.e. Beginning
Act Two - The Complications, i.e. the Middle
Act Three - The Conclusion, i.e. the End

But what do these Acts stand for?

These Acts refer to categories or segments of the storyline. It's not the story per se. Imagine having only three things happening. That would make a mighty boring story. Here's an example:

Omar, the protagonist (industry jargon for 'Hero' or main character) leaves the house to his workplace. He rides the bus. Like clockwork, he arrives there 15 minutes later.

You get the idea, right? Even though there are three segments, or sentences rather, it's not a 'filmable' story. Even if it is, it would not sell. You as well as I know that the entertainment industry is a business. And any good business has returns. Unless it's for personal satisfaction or use, e.g. homevideos.

A Rule of Thumb - Familiarity and Unfamiliarity
One rule of thumb when writing the story inspired by real life is the following:

Take someone familiar and put him in an unfamiliar situation; or
Take someone unfamiliar and put him in a familiar situation.

When the audience enters the cinema or turns on the TV, they want to forget their problems. They want to unwind. Unlike film or media studies students, they're not there to appreciate the CGIs, the cinematography and all. They want to be transported to a different world. If they wanted to see routine, they'd sit at the bus stop and observe. Why waste the money and time for something like that?

When you set out, remember the rule of thumb of familiarity and unfamiliarity. Take Omar's story for example. Let's change his character to fit 'put someone familiar in an unfamiliar situation':

Omar is a clerk who works in an accounting firm down town. As he leaves his house, the driver is waiting for him outside. He steps into the Bently and is driven to work.
Omar is a fresh graduate on his way to an interview. He leaves the house only to find the bus just about to leave. He runs frantically. A certificate dropped out of his folder. Omar manages to get on the bus, but only realises the bus goes to the wrong place. When he actually arrived at the venue, he finds his certificate missing.
Omar gets on a bus, minding his own business. The person sitting next to him leans over and fell on his lap. Agitated, Omar shoved the guy. After he did that, other passengers were looking at him...

Next, we move on to the illustrations of the other half: take someone unfamiliar and put him in a familiar situation.

Omar, a Sudanese with permanent residence status, rushes to his first job interview in the capital. He took the bus from his place. At the bus stop, people were staring at him. He moves on to the next bus stop - a distance away. Arriving there, he was alone. Came a bus on the horizon. Omar hailed it. Despite being near empty, the bus passed him. So the the next one and the next...
Omar is on the bus in Kuala Lumpur. On his way to work at a renowned accounting firm, a group of local youths started looking at him strangely. They started to curse him as a pork-eater, gambler and a soul doomed to Eternal Damnation. This caught the Chinese national of Muslim origin off guard.

Don't be limited to these scenarios. There are many examples which you can just play. I received this tip when I started writing. And now I am sharing it with you: write what you know. Sit down and pause. Observe your surrounding. How can it be familiar or unfamiliar. Write it down.

Three Act Structure Broken Down
To help you off on your journey in designing that storyline, here are the breakdown of the Three Act structure. You will be able to find it amongst many screenwriting books and websites. For the purpose of this, I relied on Screenplay: Writing the Picture by Robin U. Russin and William Missouri Downs. Besides the notes from the workshop and much discourse with the respectable writers I know, I have also relied on The Complete Idiot's Guide to Screenwriting 2nd Ed. by Skip Press.

Act One

Opening Balance
Opening Event
The Disturbance
The End of the Beginning
The Major Dramatic Question

Act Two

Conflicts, Crises, Obstacles & Complications/Reversals
Rising Action
The Dark Moment

Act Three

Enlightenment
Climax
Catharsis

A Parting Word
The Three Act Structure is one of the many formula which screenwriters - Hollywood or beyond - adapt. I dare suspect it's also used in novels and stories. Somehow Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure: Techniques and exercises for crafting a plot that grip readers from start to finishby James Scott Bell seem to confirm that suspicion.

Happy Writing!

Aldric Tinker

The Story of Penulis Malaysia

2009-01-07T14:14:00.006+08:00

WARNING: This dramatisation of events are based on the Three Act Structure.

Act I
Despite writing since January 3rd, 2008, I've never been to satisfied as a writer. Also, I hated creative writing. There's that one gig I did just after Chinese New Year. It began with a phone call - but the line was terrible. Then a meet up at a pancake house. Later that day, I got it: a freelance blogging job for an online community. I blogged about it in Living Out Life (Entry URL) Patience back then was low. I was paid RM5 per entry by the web developers. After almost two months, I decided to move on.

Somehow I was hoping for a big break. Reading and re-reading Robert Bly's Secrets of a Freelance Writer keep the fire burning.

In April 2008, or was it May, when I got a call from the Personal Secretary for a Member of the Dewan Negara (Senate).

"Can you draw up some questions for the Senator? Not too controversial or which might end up being one. Keep it current. Maybe you can email it to me soon?" More or less the conversation went.

Put yourself in my shoes. I was 21 years old. A 2nd Year Law Undergraduate at Universiti Teknologi MARA. Enthusiastic about politics and all. Out of the blue comes this one project. On the way to class, I bought all the papers I can: the New Straits Times, The Star and even Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia - two Malay dailies which I wouldn't want to be caught dead with! I drew up 20 plus questions. The politician in question was happy with some of them and used it in the Dewan Negara. But...

Before it was submitted to the House Clerk, the Personal Secretary commented that it should have been in BM and in accordance with a format.

The next project was a speech writing task. My first speech writing gig which would see it being delivered in the Dewan Negara. Undertaking it were both tedious and gratifying. You see, I have to write in the voice of that Senator. There were objectives which needs to be met. There were messages that needs to be delivered. And above all, not controversial.

In the mean time, there was an advert in the New Straits Times. The advertiser was looking for a copywriter. A golden chance, I thought. I was in Betong, Sarawak, Malaysia, My maternal hometown. It's a rural area in the largest state in Malaysia, though accessible by the Trans-Borneo Highway. Or is it called the Pan-Borneo Highway(?)

After the speech was delivered, I was enthusiastic, nonetheless. I started thinking:

"I should do this more often! I wonder how many politicians and corporate figures who could use this service?"

Act II
When the semester started, I flew to Kuala Lumpur and head of to Shah Alam. After landing, classes filled up my timetable. Assignments and more assignments piled the table. At the same time, my piggy bank was running dry. By this time, the flame on that candle is diminishing slowly.

As my world I know began to collapse around me, things took a turn to the worst.

Living away from classmates give people the impression that I'm anti-social. Frankly I see myself as being simple. I don't want to burden people. I like to stand on my own. I don't mind helping others when and where I can. So I tried to build up my writing business. Patiently researching, reading and applying. It's a process which I kinda enjoy.

Keeping me company was my laptop and the games that I am permitted t install. Anti-piracy software, you see, makes my choices limited to originals~ T_T

I met people who gave me bitter-sweet memories. The fun came with a price. More and more reclusive I became. Instead of taking hold of the reins to my life, I began drifting away. After a relationship broke down, I've already sunk. While in cloud nine, I never realise one moment that my feet left the ground.

Cloud nine began to turn into dark clouds. Soon, lightning and thunder followed. Because I was so high, I fell. So fast, yet so slow. The rain began pouring. On that way down, as I was about to break my bones on a mountain top, things took a good turn. Sadly, this part was like a yoyo. Instead of focusing our energies to something more constructive, I was being slashed by the comments coming out of this person's lips. Like an idiot, I subdued to it all.

The relationship was no longer as it was before. It was just a façade which was only maintained by ego. Instead of genuine emotions for each other, the only thing keeping it together was the fear of being alone. We had to endure weeks of unnecessary drama. It felt like a soap that went sour.

To complicate life, the relation costed me not only emotional and energy loss, but also fiscal. The person that I met lived in lavish lifestyle while I remain near the bottom of that barrel. I need RM150 to RM200 per week to survive. This person needed RM200 per day. Try beating that! Yours truly had to maintain the relationship when Anonymous hit the financial wall. As I tried to help this poor soul, I had to suffer myself. Sacrifice, I thought. Naive, I know.

In the end, it doesn't matter. As people went out to celebrate the Nation's Independence Day, we both celebrated our independence from each other. It's the end of the road, sonny. While there was relief, remorse and regret ensued. Eventually this took over the cockpit. Autopilot drove me to nerves' end. I had an emotional break down. Life became like an autopilot.

Act III
Then came a friend. A real friend, not after my lifestyle and I was not after his. It's been a long time since I found a friend in sync with my brain wave. Keeping me from completely collapsing, this guy help me picked up the pieces. I even dared to appoint him my Operations and Technical Manager of the writing practice I had.

The advertising agency I sent my resume to in June called. Projects seemed to pour in. From speech writing, I'm actually doing real copy writing work. And I was being paid!

Two months passed. I came across a Scriptwriting Workshop being advertised online. I debated on whether I should join it or not. After consulting my Manager, I got the encouragement. And you know what, the RM100 I paid was worth it. The workshop gave me more than I expected. It gave me confidence. The workshop introduced me to friends. I can join a society. A group.

In the last few weeks of 2008, I felt like I'm coming alive. Here I am, typing away a story - terrible or good, please tell and share - on this blog.

As I look around me, I see the emotional relics of the past. There are things which are different. I know that I have changed. It's time to make a move. It's time to use the voice that I have long forgotten in the Drama of 2008. While I may close the annals of last year, I'll look at it ever now and then. Just to make sure this year's Yearbook would be better.

And here I am now. Inspired to inspire. Ready to help, move and motivate. :-D

Where have the fairy tales gone~

2009-01-07T13:56:00.005+08:00

Why cant films, TV programmes and music inspire us like musics and classics of age old? Good examples are the Disney films and cartoons. Take the Mighty Ducks for example.

This thought came to me while I was enjoying André Rieu's concert on Astro Channel 808. While the maestro played classical music - music from ages past that is; pre-dating disco, twist and dangduts - somehow the audience and I were moved.

There were no lyrics. Each note somehow told a story. And in acting, what comes first before all else are movements, not lines. Same in screenwriting. A script is a story to be act out. I fimly believe that dialogues can be inserted but only to enhance the story, not be the story. I'm sure Woody Allen and those subscribing to his school of thought would disagree with me.

Where are those moving stories? Why does the drama involve only the rich and wealthy, but rarely the lower and middle class?

Escape should also be inspiring...

Bengkel Penulisan Skrip TV dan Filem

2009-01-07T13:34:00.001+08:00

===================================

Bengkel Penulisan Skrip TV & Filem

===================================

Setelah mendapat sambutan yang yang HEBAT dari peserta Bengkel Penulisan Skrip di FINAS
Martias Mohd Ali dengan kerjasama Finas akan menganjurkan siri Road Tour Bengkel Penulisan Skrip TV & Filem

Bengkel ini akan menawarkan anda beberapa kaedah pembelajaran untuk menghasilkan skrip drama TV dan filem.

Time and Place Date: Sunday, Januari 18, 2009
Time: 9:00am - 6:00pm
Location: Johor Bahru Johor

Yuran pendaftaran
RM 100 (termasuk bayaran pensyarah,sewa lokasi, sarapan, makan tengah hari dan minum petang).
Bayaran penyertaan boleh dilakukan pada hari berlangsungnya bengkel secara TUNAI.

Bagi yang berminat sila hantarkan nama penuh, no telefon dan alamat ke Email: mr_martias@yahoo.com
Sebagai pengesahan penyertaan serta rujukan bagi sijil penyertaan.

Contact Info Phone: 0173701651

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=53355268896

Turning In

2009-01-07T01:51:00.002+08:00

As I turn in for the night, I leave you with this song. It's called Gimme Hope, Joanna by Eddy Grant.

As the song plays, may it give us hope in a better day tomorrow. Goodnight, one and all.

A sleepy,

Aldric Tinker

Getting Started as a Scriptwriter

2009-01-06T17:36:00.003+08:00

Tell me 2 months ago that I'll be drafting and writing scripts and I would laugh at you. While I may enjoy writing and blogging, it's all serious stuff as I would like to say. Take my personal blog, Living Out Life, for example. Information seems to be sprinkled all over the place. Whether it's about business, politics, philosophy or personal life, I do not know.

The change came about from attending a Basic Sriptwriting Workshop organised by Mr. Martias Mohd. Ali with collaboration from FINAS. The workshop was held at FINAS HQ in Hulu Klang in Ampang on December 14th, 2008. For a fee of RM100, you'd get insights from the people of the industry. The workshop was graced by a TV producer, a documentary presenter, an experienced actor, an award winning writer and an expert on the subject.

On January 18th, 2009, a similar workshop will be held in Johor Bahru. If you are in the area, grab this opportunity! The RM100 investment would do you good. With the skills you learn, you are set to write the thousand ringgit script in no time.

I bet you didn't know this about font...

2009-01-06T17:34:00.001+08:00

What's the font used by screenwriters or scriptwriters in Hollywood?

You're looking at it in this blog. ;-) Courier (New).

Writing is a Verb

2009-01-06T17:12:00.002+08:00

The world is filled with job titles. Everyday someone comes up with a new one as the job market evolves. Try asking Alfred the Great (847 - October 899) what an engineer is. He'd look at you as if you're crazy. Walk into a room full of CEOs and Executive Chairpersons today and tell them you're an ewerer, you'd find yourself on your way to the nearest hospital bahagia!

There are job titles which was once very unglamorous but with passing time becomes the epitome of a career. Take 'secretary' for example. This office was confined to women who had good looks and could type. A lady who'd the boss hire to assist him with things at work. You know, like making the coffee or tea, typing, filing and keeping things turned on. But tell the Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or the U.S. Secretary of State to do that and you'd find yourself out of the business! Don't bother asking the Under-Secretary or Permanent Secretary. In Malaysia, the Secretary General is the wrong person to call to handle your general minial jobs. Maybe the Private Secretaries or Personal Secretaries. Certainly not the Political Secretaries and Parliamentary Secretaries.

Anyway, some jobs, however, takes their 'job title' from the verb directly. Jobs that can be lucrative careers. One example is writer.

Because since the noun is derived from the verb, the noun would mean nothing if the verb is not acted out. How can you claim to be a writer if you merely talk or fantasising of being a writer. Unless if you are the underwriter, that is.

The trouble with being a writer, though, is everyone can write. Thus the presumption that they are writers as well. True, they do the verb. But writing for a purpose requires some skills. Skills which colleges and universities may overlook. Copywriting and sreenwriting are each a module and not the course per se. But there are copywriters and screenwriters, writers still, who learned these skills and techniques from outside the formal education. But these writings can generate more income than you can ever imagine. I know of people who live of their own writing. Take Robert Bly of the United States and John Meanwell of Australia as examples.

This leads us to one question: what is the benchmark to qualify one as a writer? A good topic for debate. However it lies in the nature of the job, in my opinion. As a writer, I write copies and am completing scripts. I don't worry about marketing and liaison; I have a manager to do that for me. At times, I blog. As you can see from the side, my blogs come in numbers. *I wonder when will I update them.* :-p

My point? Writing is a verb. Unlike claiming to be sanitary engineers and marketing executive, this verb-turned-noun occupation requires you to do it.

Penulis Malaysia

Copywriter 2.0: What it Means

Copywriter 2.0 Concept Introduced

How does a Copywriter 2.0 Conduct Business?

Benefits of Working with Copywriter 2.0

Finding the Diamond among the Glasses

Guide to Copywriter 2.0: 3 Ways to Cost-Effective Communication

NLP-Hypnosis: We Are Family!

Born in a Seminar Room…

Beginnings of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP)

NLP From the Eyes of Clinical Hypnosis

Ericksonian Influence is “Apostolic Succession” in NLP: Past, Present and Future

Discover How You Can Learn Faster, Cheaper and Easier for Long-Lasting Results!

Unveiling Aldric Tinker, CreateChange and CreateCopy Logos

Discover How You Can Lift Your Mood After the Ladder Falls on You

Sexual orientation can't be changed through therapy: American Psychological Association

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AWAI: Finding a Good Idea for Your Book

Finding a Good Idea for Your Book By Robert W. Bly

1. Job Experience

2. A Course You’ve Taught

3. A Course You’ve Taken

4. Life Experience

5. A Process Or Task You Know How to Do

6. A Hobby

7. Tidbits of Scattered Information You’ve Collected Or Compiled

8. A Gap You’ve Found in the Reader’s Knowledge You Know You Can Fill

9. An Existing Topic You Can Target to a Specific Audience

10. Whatever Interests You

Aldric’s New Office in Amcorp Tower, AmCorp Mall

My 2nd TV Commercial

AWAI: 4 Crucial Steps for Copywriting Success

AWAI: The Power of Social Networking to Fast-Track Your Success

The Power of Social Networking to Fast-Track Your Success

By Will Newman

Five Social Network Sites You Must Explore …

A Social Networking Power Few Copywriters Know About …

3 Ways to Write Your Compelling Copy

You Can Go Far, but NLP Therapies DO NOT Substitute to Medical, Psychological and Psychiatric Attention

Change Your Life With NLP!

NLP Exercise Relaxation Script

Aldric Tinker, Certified NLP Practitioner (NFNLP, USA)

What is it worth to you?

Certified NeuroLinguistic Practitioner-in-Training

Engage Your Mind, Hypnotise It!

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Bengkel Intensif Penulisan Skrip 2

Bengkel Intensif Penulisan Skrip 2

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Solitary Writer, Distant Team Player

Enjoying the Classics of Vivaldi

Why Hire Aldric Tinker?

A Jack of All Trades

My first days of Varsity

In Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia

Since January 2008…

What I can Bring to the Table

Need something written? Get a Copywriter!

Experience FUN while learning the coolest of Web 2.0

Screenwriting Exercise

New Member within the MACRI Fold

Charismatic Speeches Written from Under 48 Hours

Attention! If you are listed below, you will need my speechwriting service

Why hire Aldric Tinker?

What are the Numbers?

Just An Email/Phone Call Away

Services & Fee Schedule

No.

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Finding a Good Idea for Your Book
By Robert W. Bly

Sekiranya anda mahu menghadiri sesi ujibakat ini sila sahkan kedatangan anda di page ini :
To members of ♥♥ CASTING ♥♥

CASTING - PART 2
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2nd Casting untuk Filem Kapsul
To members of ♥♥ CASTING ♥♥